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Separations
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Development of Materials for Separation and Detection of Metals and...
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Development of Materials for Separation and Detection of Metals and Chemicals

A special issue of Separations (ISSN 2297-8739). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials in Separation Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2023) | Viewed by 13366

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Antonio Turco

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CNR Nanotec Institute of Nanotechnology, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Interests: composites; carbon nanomaterials; environmental remediation; electrochemistry; sensors; biomedicine
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Anthropogenic activities and natural processes have caused the diffusion of organic pollutants in soil and aquatic environments. These toxic substances are represented by organic and inorganic compounds such as pesticides, solvents, nanomaterials, halogenated compounds, phthalates, hydrocarbons, etc. Once in the environment, these chemicals can themselves be toxic for animals and vegetables or degraded into even more dangerous chemical species. Therefore, to reduce the impact of these contaminants, two main strategies can be applied: 1) the monitoring of toxic substances in soil and water to opportunely identify possible pollutants; 2) the entrapment and removal of xenobiotics through their adsorption on solid surfaces. To this aim, new (nano)materials able to selectively recognize specific pollutants are needed. These innovative materials can be immobilized on the surface of a transducer to allow the selective detection of pollutants, can be used as separation phase in laboratory analysis and lab-on-chip technologies, or, if produced in the proper form, can be used for the in situ decontamination of soil and water.

This Special Issue focuses mainly on the development of these innovative materials for pollutants adsorption and their application in sensors, solid phase extraction, and/or adsorbents in environmental remediation.

Dr. Antonio Turco
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Separations is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sensors
  • adsorption
  • solid phase separation
  • selective recognition
  • innovative materials

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 3010 KiB  
Article
Chitosan and Metal Oxide Functionalized Chitosan as Efficient Sensors for Lead (II) Detection in Wastewater
by Walid Boultif, Charif Dehchar, Youghourta Belhocine, Emna Zouaoui, Seyfeddine Rahali, Salah Eddine Zouari, Najoua Sbei and Mahamadou Seydou
Separations 2023, 10(9), 479; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10090479 - 31 Aug 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1625
Abstract
The work presented in this paper describes the preparation and the electrochemical application of functionalized chitosan-entrapped carbon paste electrodes (CH/CPE) for lead ions (Pb2+) detection in industrial wastewater. The chitosan was first functionalized using TiO2 and CuO, which were both [...] Read more.
The work presented in this paper describes the preparation and the electrochemical application of functionalized chitosan-entrapped carbon paste electrodes (CH/CPE) for lead ions (Pb2+) detection in industrial wastewater. The chitosan was first functionalized using TiO2 and CuO, which were both metal oxides that were obtained by extracting it from waste products derived from shrimp shells. The analytical performance of the as-prepared electrodes, CH/CPE, TiO2-CH/CPE, and NiO-CH/CPE, for the detection of lead (II) was examined using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique in the 0.1 M KNO3 electrolyte solution. The effect of experimental conditions, including polarization potential, frequency, and pH, are optimized to maximize the sensitivity of the measurements. The developed impedimetric sensors provided a linear response over a concentration range of 10−6 to 10−4 M with a detection limit of 3.10−7 M based on S/N = 3. The DFT computational analysis demonstrated that chitosan biopolymer possesses the ability to adsorb Pb (II) ions that are present in wastewater. Chitosan and the derivatives of chitosan, have the potential to remove heavy metals from industrial effluent in a manner that is both economical and eco-friendly to the environment. Chitosan is a biopolymer that is abundantly renewable. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Materials for Separation and Detection of Metals and Chemicals)
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24 pages, 4643 KiB  
Article
Removal of Ni(II) and Cu(II) in Aqueous Solutions Using Treated Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) as Bioadsorbent
by Carlos González-Tavares, Mercedes Salazar-Hernández, Alfonso Talavera-López, Juan Manuel Salgado-Román, Rosa Hernández-Soto and José A. Hernández
Separations 2023, 10(5), 289; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10050289 - 4 May 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1814
Abstract
Phytoremediation consists of taking advantage of the capacity of certain plants to absorb, accumulate, or metabolize contaminants. In this study, Eichornia crassipes (water lily) treated with water (WLW) and NaOH (WLN) was investigated as an adsorbent for removal of Ni(II) and Cu(II) present [...] Read more.
Phytoremediation consists of taking advantage of the capacity of certain plants to absorb, accumulate, or metabolize contaminants. In this study, Eichornia crassipes (water lily) treated with water (WLW) and NaOH (WLN) was investigated as an adsorbent for removal of Ni(II) and Cu(II) present in aqueous solution, focusing on determining the most efficient conditions (adsorbent concentration, contact time, pretreatment, temperature). The results showed that equilibrium adsorption was favorable and carried out by a multilayer physical process with both bioadsorbents. The maximum adsorption at 30 °C in WLW and WLN was 349 and 293.8 mg/g of Ni(II), respectively, and 294.1 and 276.3 mg/g of Cu(II), respectively. The thermodynamic analysis indicated that the removal in both metals was spontaneous and exothermic. The Avrami model was the most adequate in the kinetic study of Ni(II) and Cu(II) removal in both treatments, which revealed that the adsorption process was carried out by several mechanisms. In the characterization of the adsorbents, it was determined that the functional groups of WL as well as the attractive forces on the surface of the materials participated in the metal removal process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Materials for Separation and Detection of Metals and Chemicals)
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15 pages, 2417 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Adsorption Properties of Magnetic Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Selective Recognition of 17β-Estradiol
by Lanbo Bi, Jimin Shen, Zhuoran Yao, Jing Kang, Shengxin Zhao, Pengwei Yan, Binyuan Wang and Zhonglin Chen
Separations 2022, 9(11), 381; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations9110381 - 21 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1816
Abstract
In this paper, magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) were fabricated on the surface of Fe3O4 by surface molecular imprinting technology, which can selectively adsorb 17β-estradiol (E2). The optimized experiments demonstrated that MMIPs possessed the best adsorption capacity when methanol was [...] Read more.
In this paper, magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) were fabricated on the surface of Fe3O4 by surface molecular imprinting technology, which can selectively adsorb 17β-estradiol (E2). The optimized experiments demonstrated that MMIPs possessed the best adsorption capacity when methanol was used as the solvent and MAA was used as the crosslinking agent, with a molar ratio of E2: MMA: EGDMA as 1:4:50. SEM, FTIR, and XRD were employed to investigate the morphologies of MMIPs and the results demonstrated that the MMIPs that can selectively adsorb E2 were successfully prepared on Fe3O4 particles. The adsorption experiments showed that 92.1% of E2 was adsorbed by the MMIPs, which is higher than the magnetic non-molecularly imprinted polymers (MNIPs). The Freundlich isotherm model was more suitable to describe the adsorption process of E2 by MMIPs. Meanwhile, MMIPs had a better recognition ability for E2 and its structural analogs such as estrone and estriol. The MMIPs still had good adsorption performance after methanol regeneration five times. The prepared MMIPs had the advantages of efficient adsorption ability and high reusability, so they can be applied for selective recognition and removal of E2. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Materials for Separation and Detection of Metals and Chemicals)
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Review

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24 pages, 6367 KiB  
Review
Removal of Azo Dyes from Wastewater through Heterogeneous Photocatalysis and Supercritical Water Oxidation
by Vincenzo Vaiano and Iolanda De Marco
Separations 2023, 10(4), 230; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10040230 - 27 Mar 2023
Cited by 37 | Viewed by 7219
Abstract
Azo dyes are synthetic organic dyes used in the textile, leather, and paper industries. They pose environmental problems due to their toxic and persistent nature. The toxicity is due to the presence of azo groups in the dye molecule that can break down [...] Read more.
Azo dyes are synthetic organic dyes used in the textile, leather, and paper industries. They pose environmental problems due to their toxic and persistent nature. The toxicity is due to the presence of azo groups in the dye molecule that can break down into aromatic amines, which are highly toxic to aquatic organisms and humans. Various treatment methods have been developed to remove azo dyes from wastewater. Conventional wastewater treatments have some drawbacks, such as high operating costs, long processing times, generation of sludge, and the formation of toxic by-products. For these reasons, a valid alternative is constituted by advanced oxidation processes. Good results have been obtained using heterogeneous photocatalysis and supercritical water oxidation. In the former method, a photocatalyst is in contact with wastewater, a suitable light activates the catalyst, and generated reactive oxygen species that react with pollutants through oxidative reactions to their complete mineralization; the latter involves pressurizing and heating wastewater to supercritical conditions in a reactor vessel, adding an oxidizing agent to the supercritical water, and allowing the mixture to react. In this review paper, works in the literature that deal with processing wastewater containing azo dyes through photocatalysts immobilized on macroscopic supports (structured photocatalysts) and the supercritical water oxidation technique have been critically analyzed. In particular, advancement in the formulation of structured photocatalysts for the degradation of azo dyes has been shown, underlying different important features, such as the type of support for the photoactive phase, reactor configuration, and photocatalytic efficiency in terms of dye degradation and photocatalyst stability. In the case of supercritical water oxidation, the main results regarding COD and TOC removal from wastewater containing azo dyes have been reported, taking into account the reactor type, operating pressure, and temperature, as well as the reaction time. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Materials for Separation and Detection of Metals and Chemicals)
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