Sustainable Natural Polymers and Composites for Water Treatment

Dear Colleagues,

Addressing the global water crisis is a paramount challenge of the 21st century, with over 800 million people lacking access to safe drinking water due to contamination and scarcity. Urgent actions for water remediation are imperative. This Special Issue delves into developing eco-friendly, cost-effective materials to enhance the removal of regulated inorganic contaminants in water treatment processes. The proliferation of post-consumer and industrial waste underscores the need for sustainable solutions. Micropollutants, known for their high toxicity and resistance to degradation, pose significant risks to both humans and the environment. Traditional wastewater treatment methods often fail to eliminate these pollutants at low concentrations. This Special Issue explores novel treatment technologies to control and remove micropollutants from aquatic environments. Emphasizing the importance of energy-efficient approaches and environmental protection, this Special Issue highlights naturally derived adsorbents and their composites as promising materials. With attributes such as large surface area, porosity, and thermal stability, these materials show the potential in efficiently capturing pollutants. Recent research, uniting experimental and theoretical analyses, aims to deepen our understanding of mechanistic phenomena of adsorption. 

We welcome contributions that offer insights into the development of low-cost materials for removing micropollutants from water. The scope includes naturally derived polymers, biomass, synthetic polymers, polymer composites, and other relevant materials. Submissions integrating both theoretical and experimental aspects are encouraged, as well as those focusing exclusively on adsorption mechanisms.

Prof. Dr. Youness Abdellaoui
Dr. Eduardo A. Lopez-Maldonado
Dr. Lourdes Díaz Jiménez
Guest Editors

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. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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.

• polymers
• composites
• water treatment
• micropollutant
• heavy metals
• organic contaminants
• low-cost adsorbents
• contaminant removal
• DFT
• molecular dynamic