Heavy Metals and Emerging Contaminants in Aquatic and Soil Environments: Migration, Transformation, Ecological Risks, and Remediation

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Toxicity Reduction and Environmental Remediation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 March 2026 | Viewed by 120

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing 210042, China
Interests: potentially toxic elements; emerging contaminants; migration and transformation; distribution characteristics; risk assessment; pollution remediation; soil; water; sediment

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Guest Editor
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China
Interests: aquatic toxicology; aquaculture biomarkers; oxidative stress; environmental contaminants; risk assessment
College of Geography and Remote Sensing, Hohai University, Nanjing 211000, China
Interests: toxic element; migration and transformation; risk assessment; ecological remediation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Heavy metal pollution is a severe environmental problem across the world, stemming from complex and diverse sources. Heavy metals pose a pollution risk in environments due to their toxicity, persistence, bioaccumulation, and resistance to degradation. Emerging contaminants such as antibiotics, microplastics, endocrine disruptors, and persistent organic pollutants share many of these characteristics. With changes in how contaminants manifest and their migration and transformation between different media, they could have a greater impact on the ecological environment, even presenting potential health risks to the human body through pathways such as the food chain. Current management strategies for heavy metals and emerging contaminants have garnered significant attention across all sectors of society. However, many challenges still persist regarding their impacts on aquatic and soil environments, including their migration, transformation, ecological risks, and remediation. In this Special Issue, topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • The risk and migration of heavy metals and emerging contaminants in aquatic and soil environments.
  • The control of heavy metals and emerging contaminants in wastewater.
  • The remediation of heavy metals and emerging contaminants in ecosystems.
  • The prevention and control of regional heavy metal and emerging contaminant pollution.
  • The control of composite heavy metal and emerging contaminant pollution.

Dr. Xiaoshuai Hang
Dr. Yingang Xue
Dr. Jian Cui
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • heavy metal
  • air
  • soils
  • water
  • sediment
  • environmental behavior
  • human health
  • migration and transformation
  • pollution remediation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 1263 KB  
Article
Effect of Nitric Acid-Modified Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube Capping on Copper and Lead Release from Sediments
by Xiang Chen, Dongdong Zhu, Xiaohui You, Yan Wang, Li Zhou and Xiaoshuai Hang
Toxics 2025, 13(11), 912; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics13110912 (registering DOI) - 23 Oct 2025
Abstract
Nitric acid-treated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been extensively utilized for removing dissolved heavy metals from aqueous systems; however, their use as a capping material to immobilize heavy metals in sediments has rarely been investigated. Consequently, the impact of CNTs on millimeter-scale variations [...] Read more.
Nitric acid-treated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been extensively utilized for removing dissolved heavy metals from aqueous systems; however, their use as a capping material to immobilize heavy metals in sediments has rarely been investigated. Consequently, the impact of CNTs on millimeter-scale variations in pore-water heavy metal concentrations along sediment profiles remains poorly understood. In this study, CNTs were applied as a capping agent, and microelectrodes combined with high-resolution diffusive equilibrium in thin-film (HR-Peeper) samplers were employed to simultaneously obtain vertical profiles of pH, soluble copper (Cu) and lead (Pb), and dissolved oxygen (DO) in sediments in order to assess the effectiveness of CNTs in controlling the mobility of Cu and Pb. The results revealed that CNTs application markedly reduced the concentrations of soluble Cu and Pb, with maximum reduction rates of 58.69% and 64.97%, respectively. Compared with the control treatment, CNTs capping decreased the maximum release fluxes of soluble Cu and Pb by 3.78 and 1.91 µg·m−2·d−1, respectively. Moreover, CNTs treatment enhanced the stable fractions of Cu and Pb within sediments, thereby improving the sediment’s capacity to retain these metals. Overall, this study demonstrates that CNTs can serve as an effective capping material to inhibit the leaching of Cu and Pb from sediments, offering a promising strategy for the in situ remediation of heavy metal-contaminated sediments. Full article
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