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The rapid development of nanoparticles (NPs) and their broad applications in medicine caused concerns about biological effects and biosafety. Here, the interaction of silver NPs (Ag NPs) and trypsin is studied with ultravioletvisible spectra, circular dichroism, and fluorescence spectra. Trypsin is exposed to various sizes and concentrations of Ag NPs. The intensities of the trypsin ultraviolet-visible absorption peaks are proportional to the Ag NP concentration and size. In the circular dichroism spectra, there was evidence that Ag NPs affected the secondary structure of trypsin. Fluorescence spectra show that the formation of the protein-nanoparticle complexes alters the protein chromophore chemical environment or structure and quenches its fluorescence. Hence, the extent of Ag NP binding of trypsin depends on both NP concentration and size, and changes the Ag NPs physicochemical properties as well as the trypsin secondary structure. With regard to nanomaterial safety, the interaction of NPs with proteins must be explored further for establishing NP toxicity and design guidance.

Carbon-based electrodes play important roles in constructing efficient capacitive deionization (CDI) devices. Therefore, the rational design of carbon materials with optimized structure, composition, and morphology is crucial for further improving the CDI performance. Herein, a novel N, P co-doped eave-like hierarchical porous carbon (NP-EHPC) for CDI is reported. To prepare the NP-EHPC, the core–shell ZIF-8@AF particles are first prepared through the kinetically-controlled growth of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) and polymerization of p-aminophenol and formaldehyde (AF), followed by subsequent pyrolysis and post-doping with phosphorus. Owing to the unique eave-like morphology, presence of abundant mesopores, and co-doping of P and N, the NP-EHPC exhibits a high desalination capacity of 24.14 mg g−1 in 500 mg L−1 NaCl solution at 1.2 V and long cycling stability of over 150 cycles. Moreover, the density functional theory (DFT) calculation results reveal that the co-doping of N and P atoms can greatly enhance the binding energies for Na and Cl atoms and lead to superior electrosorption capacity. This work provides a new insight into the design of high-performance carbon materials for the desalination of brackish water.

The BCR-ABL fusion oncoprotein causes chronic myeloid leukemia or acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Ph+ patients because the ABL kinase is constitutively activated. However, current clinical treatment with ABL inhibitors is seriously limited by drug resistance and adverse effects. Although the emerging proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) have been introduced to degrade BCR-ABL, most of them showed limited activity and could not overcome the common drug-resistant mutants, especially for T315I mutant. Herein, we systematically designed a set of unique PROTACs by globally targeting all the three binding sites of BCR-ABL, including dasatinib-, ponatinib-, and asciminib-based PROTACs. Our ponatinib-based PROTACs showed practical activity as dasatinib-based PROTACs, while no reported ponatinib-based PROTACs could degrade BCR-ABL before. As a proof of concept, some additional dasatinib-based PROTACs were then designed to degrade T315I mutant too. We provided a global PROTAC toolbox for degrading both wild-type and T315I-mutated BCR-ABL from each binding site. More importantly, these PROTACs showed better selectivity and less adverse effects than the inhibitors, indicating that PROTACs had great potential for overcoming clinical drug resistance and safety issues.

Selective removal of organic pollutants from surface water with high efficiency is crucial in water purification. Here, yolk-shell Co/C nanoreactors (YSCCNs) are facilely synthesized via pyrolysis of controllably etched ZIF-67 by tannic acid, and their degradation performance on multiple pollutants is demonstrated. To present the structure-performance relationship between the designed nanocatalyst and the selective removal of organic pollutants, bisphenol A (BPA) was selected as the targeted pollutant with coexistence of humus acid (HA). For comparison, solid and hollow ZIF-67 derived Co/C nanoparticles denoted as SCCNs and HCCNs, were also tested. The results show that YSCCNs exhibit enhanced BPA degradation rate of 0.32 min-1, which is 23.1% and 45.4% higher than that of HCCNs and SCCNs in HA (10 ppm) system. The essential improvement can be ascribed to the synergetic effects from shell layer (size-exclusion) and core/shell (confinement effect). The degradation mechanism and pathway are further confirmed by radical quenching experiments and liquid chromatography-mass spectrograph (LC-MS), respectively. In addition, some influential factors, including reaction temperature, pH value, and peroxymonosulfate (PMS) dosage are investigated in detail. This work provides a possible way to selectively remove target contaminant from multiple pollutants in complex water system.

In order to improve the mass transfer of anodic oxidation, an inverse opal-like marcoporous RuO2 electrode (IOMP-RuO2) was designed to enhance the concentration diffusion and molecule-to-electrode collision. Characterization methods including SEM, XRD, BET, LSV, CV, EIS and CA were performed to evaluate the properties of the IOMP-RuO2. In addition, the electro-oxidation capacity of the RuO2 electrode prepared at varying calcination temperature was also investigated. Results show that calcination temperature can affect the electro-oxidation performance of IOMP-RuO2 from the specific surface area, crystallinity of RuO2, voltammetric charge and impedance. Thereinto, crystallinity of RuO2 and impedance played decisive roles in the electrochemical oxidation. The fine crystallinity and lower impedance of IOMP-RuO2 acquired by 450 °C increased the electronic transport rate and allowed less redox couple to be involved in oxygen evolution, contributing to the best oxidation performance amongst others. Under this calcination temperature, the IOMP-RuO2 possesses larger electro-active areas, smaller electric resistance and enhanced mass transfer as compared to the planar RuO2 electrode. Furthermore, the IOMP-RuO2 gave a 42.7% higher degradation rate than that observed for the planar RuO2 electrode in the abatement of tricyclazole (TC) after 180 min. The high rate constant (2.14 × 10–2 min−1) and current efficiency (61.1%) achieved by IOMP-RuO2 contributed to a low energy consumption of 0.04744 kWh mg−1. Thus, these findings promoted the IOMP-RuO2 as an alternative electrode for wastewater decontamination.

[Image: see text] PROTACs-induced targeted protein degradation has emerged as a novel therapeutic strategy in drug development and attracted the favor of academic institutions, large pharmaceutical enterprises (e.g., AstraZeneca, Bayer, Novartis, Amgen, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, and Boehringer Ingelheim, etc.), and biotechnology companies. PROTACs opened a new chapter for novel drug development. However, any new technology will face many new problems and challenges. Perspectives on the potential opportunities and challenges of PROTACs will contribute to the research and development of new protein degradation drugs and degrader tools.

Fluoride contamination in groundwater is a worldwide problem that is related to human health. Zirconium-based adsorbents possess satisfactory selective defluoridation capacities. However, narrow efficiency pH range, easy aggregation and difficult separation are the main obstructions in practical application. In this study, the branched polyethyleneimine (bPEI) modified hydrous zirconium oxide (HZO)/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers (NFs) are synthesized by immobilizing bPEI-HZO into PAN nanofibers via electrospinning. The resultant bPEI-HZO/PAN NFs exhibit a wide working pH range and an excellent adsorption capacity toward fluoride (67.51 mg·g−1) even at neutral condition, indicating non-negligible superiority in the practical application of groundwater defluoridation. This enhanced adsorption performance along with extended wider working pH range are ascribed to the optimization of the adsorbents from both composition and structure. Compositionally, the modification of bPEI improves the surface property of HZO, and thus increases fluoride capacity in alkaline groundwater. Structurally, electrospinning conquers the drawbacks of nano-adsorbents for both easy aggregation and difficult separation. In addition, the effect of co-existing ions was further investigated and the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) as well as fourier transform infrared spectrum (FTIR) measurements were used to clarify the fluoride adsorption mechanism. Furthermore, the dynamic adsorption and regeneration performance were accomplished through the fixed-bed column experiment. All the results indicated that bPEI-HZO/PAN NFs are promising materials for defluoridation from groundwater.

The rational design of active and sustainable heterogeneous catalysts towards advanced oxidation process (AOPs) is of great significance for water remediation. Here, we synthesized Fe0/graphitized carbon composite catalysts for efficient removal of bisphenol A (BPA) by activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS). The Fe0/graphitized carbon composites were obtained by the pyrolysis of iron-tannic modified cotton, where tannic acid (TA) is an eco-friendly and low-cost polyphenol that can strongly form complexes with iron ions. The introduction of iron could significantly regulate the graphitization of carbon by changing the pyrolysis temperature. The combination of Fe0 and graphitized carbon can endow Fe-TCs with an enhanced adsorption ability due to strong complexation between Fe0 and BPA. The pyrolysis of iron-tannic modified cotton may serve as a novel strategy to design an efficient low-toxic metal-carbon catalyst for sulfate radical based processes in water remediation.

MOFs-derived metal/carbon materials have been considered as promising candidates for the electrochemical detection of micropollutants. However, the aggregation of metal nanoparticles and structure collapse of precursor MOFs during pyrolysis significantly hamper the improvement on detecting performance. Herein, a dicyandiamide-assisted strategy is utilized to synthesize well-dispersed Cu/N-doped porous carbon nanoarchitecture (CuNC) for the electrochemical detection of acetaminophen (AP). The constructed CuNC sensor exhibits excellent electro-analytical performance for monitoring AP with linear range from 0.01 μM to 921.2 μM, and the low detection limit of 2.46 nM (S/N = 3). The improved performance of CuNC sensor is ascribed to the introduction of dicyandiamide, which can prevent HKUST-1 framework breakage and reduce the aggregation tendency of Cu, leading to the evenly distributed small Cu nanoparticles, abundant N species, hierarchical channel structure, and high conductivity carbon framework. These advantages endow predominant repeatability, stability, and selectivity of CuNC sensor. This strategy provided a novel approach to preparing MOFs-derived carbon nanoarchitectures with excellent electroanalysis performance to monitor micropollutants.

The solidification/stabilization of municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash is required before it enters a landfill, and water is needed in this process. At the same time, a large quantity of Ca(OH)2 is consumed during copper smelting wastewater treatment. The purpose of this study was to utilize both MSWI fly ash and copper smelting wastewater in a co-processing process. The elements Cr, Cu, Pb, and As were selected to study the stability of the co-processing products. The effects of H2SO4 and As in copper smelting wastewater on the stability of the co-processing products were studied. A TCLP leaching procedure and a BCR sequential extraction procedure were conducted to evaluate the stability of the co-processing products. H2SO4 (0–50 g/L) in simulated copper smelting wastewater had no significant influence on the stability of Cr and Cu; however, it enhanced the stability of Pb and As in the co-processing products. The stability of Cu and Pb increased with the content of As (0–5000 mg/L) in simulated copper smelting wastewater, while the stability of Cr and As decreased. When the co-processing products came into contact with the landfill leachate, the leaching of Cu was promoted. The co-processing products helped to reduce the concentration of Pb and As in landfill leachate. The results indicated that a chelating agent is needed to enhance the stabilization of Cu.

A structure-hopping strategy was applied to discover a series of novel 4-aminoquinoline-3-carboxamide derivatives as potent, reversible BTK inhibitors. Compared to the previously described cinnoline scaffold compounds, the 4-aminoquinoline analogues showed significantly improved drug-like properties, especially in their aqueous solubility. The most potent compound

Due to highly recalcitrant and toxicological nature of halogenated organic compounds, conventional anaerobic dehalogenation is often limited by low removal rate and poor process stability. Besides, the reduction intermediates or products formed during dehalogenation process, which are still toxic, required further energy-intensive aerobic post-treatment. In this study, an up-flow electricity-stimulated anaerobic system (ESAS) was developed by installing cathode underneath and anode above to realize simultaneous anaerobic debromination and mineralization of 4-bromophenol (4-BP). When cathode potential was −600 mV, high TOC removal efficiency (98.78 ± 0.96%), complete removal of 4-BP and phenol could be achieved at 4-BP loading rate of 0.58 mol m−3 d−1, suggesting debrominated product of 4-BP from cathode (i.e., phenol) would be utilized as the fuel by the bioanode of ESAS. Under high 4-BP loading rate (2.32 mol m−3 d−1) and low electron donor dosage (4.88 mM), 4-BP could be completely removed at acetate usage ratio as low as 4.21 ± 1.42 mol acetate mol−1 4-BP removal in ESAS, whereas only 13.45 ± 1.38% of 4-BP could be removed at acetate usage ratio as high as 31.28 ± 3.38 mol acetate mol−1 4-BP removal in control reactor. Besides, electrical stimulation distinctly facilitated the growth of various autotrophic dehalogenation species, phenol degradation related species, fermentative species, homoacetogens and electrochemically active species in ESAS. Moreover, based on the identified intermediates and the bacterial taxonomic analysis, possible metabolism mechanism involved in enhanced anaerobic debromination and mineralization of 4-BP in ESAS was proposed.

Water flooding in the microporous cathode is poisonous but inevitable for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in electro-Fenton (EF) processes. To meet this challenge, a facile modification was reported to stabilize performance of cathode through the infiltration process, which selecting superior CB-PTFE electrode as backbone and dimethyl silicon oil (DMS) as maturation layer. Characterized by FE-SEM, EDS, BET, XRD, the matured cathode was proved to be wrapped uniformly by DMS. Electrochemical performances of cathodes were evaluated by CA, CV, EIS and CP measurements in oxygen “starvation” condition. These results proved that the maturation layer improved the electrocatalysis on 2 e − ORR, the service lifetime from 1.68 h to 18.34 h, the working range of current density from 70 to 110 A m−2 and reduced the oxygen diffusion resistance from 74.23 to 8.07 Ω. Besides, H2O2 generation and oxygen utilization of 2%DMS cathode respectively reached 126.7 mg L−1 and 83.49% in 60 min, which were rarely influenced by pH and aeration rate even after water flooding process. 2%DMS layer served as the accelerated oxygen transport channel can explain the enhanced oxygen transport. The simulated contaminated solution containing a fungicide-flutriafol (FTF) was obtained 100% removal in about 40 min and 48.88% TOC removal in 2 h. The lifetime tests revealed much more stable decay of FTF under the broader operational condition.

This study introduces the application of the Fe(III)/flue gas desulfurization gypsum (FGDG) system to remove EDTA-chelated Pb(II). Systematic experiments were conducted to explore the possibility of removing EDTA-chelated Pb(II) and the crucial factors of the removal process, as well as to determine the underlying removal mechanism. The results showed that the removal reaction was a quick process, with the removal rate exceeding 90% after 1 min. The system removed 97.35% of EDTA-chelated Pb(II), reducing its concentration from 700 mg/L to 18.81 mg/L. EDTA-chelated Pb(II) can be most effectively removed at pH 2. This system had a high removal rate from 50 mg/L to 1000 mg/L of EDTA-chelated Pb(II), particularly at 700 mg/L when the removal rate reached 97.35%. When the molar ratio of Fe(III)/Pb(II) was greater or smaller than 1:1, an inhibitory effect on removal was observed. TOC and UV–Vis analyses indicated that ferric ions replaced lead ions, resulting in the conversion of the EDTA-chelated Pb(II) to EDTA-chelated Fe(III). Surface structure, crystalline phase and elemental distribution were analyzed to explore the transformation of substances. The results indicated that FGDG coprecipitated with free lead ions to form lead sulfate. Overall, the rapid and efficient removal performance with cost-effective characteristics makes the Fe(III)/FGDG system a potentially attractive method for the removal of EDTA-chelated Pb(II)in wastewater.

The discovery and development of a novel HER-2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer are presented in this article. EGFR family has been recognized as a crucial meditator in the cancer progression; HER-2 tyrosine kinase was one of the members among them. In the effort to explore potent HER-2 inhibitors, a novel series of 4-anilino-3-cyanoquinoline derivatives have been designed, synthesized and evaluated. Most compounds possessed modest proliferation inhibition on SK-BR-3 cell line and HER-2 kinase. Compound 16 appeared to be the most potent compound (HER-2 kinase IC50: 19.4 nM, SK-BR-3 IC50: 94 nM). In the experiment of cellular cytotoxicity assay, compound 16 shows a much lower cytotoxicity than neratinib on Beas-2b cell line (Human bronchial epithelial cells). In conclusion, compound 16 would be a promising lead compound for further anti-breast cancer drug discovery.

The performance of thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane is significantly determined by the inherent structure and composition of the incorporated nanofillers. In this work, hydrophilic hollow nanocubes (HHNs) derived from zeolitic imidazolate framework 8 (ZIF-8) were incorporated into the polyamide layer via an interfacial polymerization approach. The HHNs with abundant hydroxyl groups on the surface were obtained by etching solid ZIF-8 using tannic acid. Benefiting from the hydrophilicity, hollow structure, and negative charge of HHNs, the outstanding nanofiltration performance of the composite membrane was achieved. With the assistance of HHNs, the permeance and Na2SO4 rejection of the TFN membrane increased up to 19.4 ± 0.6 L/(m2·h·bar) and 95.2 ± 1.4%, corresponding to an improvement of 190% of the permeance and 2.0% of the rejection compared to the pristine thin film composite membrane. Comparatively, the performance of TFN membranes prepared with solid ZIF-8 only shows 116% improvements of the permeance with slightly increased salt rejection. More importantly, the antifouling property of the TFN-4H membrane was also elevated. The flux recovery ratios of the TFN-4H membrane are 93.2 and 84.7% corresponding to humic acid and bovine serum albumin solutions, respectively. The results indicate that the nanofiltration performance of the composite membrane was significantly enhanced with the incorporation of HHNs.

The degradation of organic contaminants under high salinity condition is still a challenge for environmental remediation due to the inhibiting effect resulted from the side reactions between radicals and anions. Here, we demonstrate the non-radical oxidation process via peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation by metal-free carbon catalyst for efficiently decomposing bisphenol A (BPA) in saline water. The nitrogen-doped graphitic carbon (NGC700) exhibits excellent catalytic activity for depredating BPA at acid and neutral pH. Based on the scavenger experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analyses, the mechanism of catalytic oxidation was elucidated as the non-radical pathway, and singlet oxygen was identified as the primary reactive species. Experiments on the influence of anions (5–500 mM) further show that the inhibiting effect was overcame due to the non-radical process. Interestingly, Cl− markedly facilitated the catalytic performance by generating HOCl in the catalytic process. The results highlight leveraging the non-radical pathway dominated by singlet oxygen to conquer the inhibitory effect of anions in NGC700/PMS system, which represents a crucial step towards environmental remediation under high salinity condition.

Acceleration of Fe3+/Fe2+ cycle and simultaneous reduction of particle size with enhanced stability is extremely important for iron-based heterogeneous Fenton catalysts. In this work, Fe0-Fe2O3 composite nanoparticles embedded ordered mesoporous carbon hybrid materials (Fe0-Fe2O3/OMC) were rationally designed as efficient heterogeneous Fenton catalysts. Because of the confinement and reduction of OMC, highly dispersed Fe0-Fe2O3 active species with diameter of ∼8 nm were generated by an optimized carbothermic reduction process. In addition, Fe0-Fe2O3/OMC possesses ordered mesoporous structure with uniform mesopore, high surface area and pore volume. For comparison, two other catalysts, including solely Fe0 nanoparticles supported on ordered mesoporous carbon (Fe0/OMC) and solely Fe2O3 nanoparticles supported on ordered mesoporous carbon (Fe2O3/OMC) were also prepared. The Fenton catalytic performance of synthesized catalysts was evaluated by using H2O2 as oxidizing agent to degrade Acid Orange II (AOII). The results show that almost 98.1% of 100 mg L−1 AOII was removed by Fe0-Fe2O3/OMC in condition of neutral pH and nearly room temperature, which is much higher than those of compared catalysts. The enhanced catalytic activity of Fe0-Fe2O3/OMC for AOII removal is due to the efficient electron transfer between the Fe0 and iron oxide and the accelerated Fe3+/Fe2+ cycle. The stability and reusability of the catalyst was also investigated, which showed a good performance even after five consecutive runs. The as-synthesized catalyst is proved to be an attractive candidate in heterogeneous Fenton chemistry and practical application.

To enhance the antibacterial property and chlorine resistance, organic nanospheres, polypyrrole (PPy), were innovatively incorporated into the polyamide (PA) layer for fabricating thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes. Owing to the improved hydrophilicity and compatibility between the PPy nanospheres and the PA layer, the obtained TFN membranes exhibited significant water flux enhancement without sacrificing salt rejection. Under the optimal PPy dosage (0.006 wt%), TFN membranes showed a high water flux of 42.19 L/(m2 h), which was 118.0% higher than that of the pristine membrane. Remarkably, the chlorine resistance of TFN membranes was strengthened after the incorporation of PPy nanospheres, as evidenced by the less decreased salt rejection, as compared with the TFC and commercial RO membrane. In addition, the positively charged PPy nanospheres immobilized in the PA layer endow the TFN membranes with improved biocidal activity, which was much higher than that of the pristine membrane. This study shows that incorporating organic nanospheres into the PA layer is an effective strategy to develop new TFN membranes with enhanced performance for advanced water purification.

Enhanced biodegradation of high-strength pyridine was successfully achieved in the inner loop anoxic/oxic-dynamic membrane bioreactor (A/O-DMBR) in this study. Due to the key role of dynamic membrane in biomass retention, NH4+ released from pyridine biodegradation could be effectively nitrified to NO3− in oxic zone, which was then recirculated into the anoxic zone to serve as electron acceptor for pyridine biodegradation. Acetate dosage adversely affected pyridine biodegradation, due to the competitive effect of acetate towards NO3−. Increase of recirculation ratio positively affected pyridine biodegradation, due to high availability of NO3− at high recirculation ratio. At influent pyridine concentration as high as 1500 mg L−1, effluent turbidity was well maintained below 10 NTU, indicating excellent biomass retention performance of the dynamic membrane. Microbial community analysis confirmed the enrichment of specific functional species in both anoxic and oxic zones. Stable performance during 260 days’ operation confirmed the potential of A/O-DMBR for full-scale application.

Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) have received extensive attention in recent years because of its harmfulness and resource. In this work, two-step leaching process was carried out by using stee...

In this study, bioaugmentation potential of 1H-1,2,4-triazole (TZ) degrading strain namely Shinella sp. NJUST26 and tricyclazole (TC) degrading strain namely Sphingomonas sp. NJUST37 was evaluated in a bench-scale activated sludge tank. The performance of the bioreactor demonstrated the feasibility of bioaugmentation by NJUST26 and NJUST37 in terms of almost complete TC and TZ removal, significant COD and TOC removal, as well as toxicity reduction. The effect of influent pH, hydraulic retention time (HRT) and triazole fungicide concentration was investigated in order to reach an optimal treatment performance. The bioaugmented process after the inoculation of NJUST26 and NJUST37 could maintain stable performance in terms of TZ, TC, COD and TOC removal from the wastewater. High-throughput sequencing analysis suggested that higher diversity and significant shifts in bacterial community structure were achieved after the inoculation of NJUST26 and NJUST37. However, both NJUST26 and NJUST37 lost their dominance during long-term operation, despite of the key role of the inoculation of NJUST26 and NJUST37 in the formation of effective microbial community.

A highly ordered three-dimensional macro-porous PbO2 (3D porous PbO2) electrode has been prepared for electrochemical oxidation of nitrogen-heterocyclic compounds. The 3D porous PbO2 electrode was fabricated by templated electrochemical deposition method with TiO2 nanotube arrays as substrate and SnO2-Sb as intermediate layer. The morphology and composition characterization of the 3D porous PbO2 electrode was performed by field emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, which revealed a uniform distribution of highly ordered macro-porous β-PbO2 structure. The Brunner−Emmet−Teller analysis suggested the electrode possessed large specific surface area of 37.39 m2·g−1. Electrochemical measurements indicated the electrode had a favourable oxygen evolution potential of 1.89 V and inner voltammetric charge of 14.48 mC·cm−2, which were higher than that of conventional PbO2 electrode. Furthermore, the electrochemical oxidation and TOC removal percentage of pyrrole, pyrazole and tetrazole obtained by 3D porous PbO2 electrode were 93.4%, 72.7%, 61.2% and 66.7%, 57.3%, 38.6% respectively, which were also superior to conventional PbO2 electrode. The intermediates were detected and analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometer, and ion chromatography to propose a degradation pathway of pyrrole, pyrazole and tetrazole. Finally, quantum chemical calculation was introduced in this study by density function theory method, which is consistent with the experimental detection.

Porous matrix immobilization is considered as an effective approach to address the engineering challenges during practical application of nanoadsorbent. In this work, solid and hollow hydrous Zirconium (IV) oxide (ZrO2·nH2O, SHZO and HHZO) nanoparticles were enwrapped into millimeter-level beads by polyethersulfone through a mild liquid-liquid phase inversion technique. The beads possess asymmetric and hierarchical structure with an exterior porous surface dense layer and numerous inner interpenetrating finger-like channels, which promote the transportation of molecule and prevent the leaching of nanoadsorbents. As compared to SHZO beads, HHZO beads exhibited higher efficient adsorption capacity toward Pb (II) (104 mg·g−1), which could remain at 94% of HHZO nanoparticles. The effects of pH, the stability of adsorbents and coexisting ionic are further explored in detail. The Pb (II) removal mechanism is further studied by the EDS mapping, XPS, FTIR measurements, further indicating the surface hydroxyl groups played a key role in the adsorption process. Fixed-bed column sorption experiment and in situ regeneration were conducted so as to examine the practical application of the beads. Therefore, this kind of beads indicated the potential practical application in industrial wastewater treatment.

In order to develop an effective bioaugmentation strategy for the removal of highly toxic and recalcitrant tricyclazole from wastewater, a tricyclazole degrading strain was firstly successfully isolated and identified as Sphingomonas sp. NJUST37. In batch reactors, 100 mg L−1 tricyclazole could be completely removed within 102 h, which was accompanied by significant biomass increase, TOC and COD removal, as well as toxicity reduction. Chromatography analysis and density functional theory simulation indicated that monooxygenation occurred firstly, followed by triazole ring cleavage, decyanation reaction, hydration reaction, deamination, dihydroxylation and final mineralization reaction. Tricyclazole biodegradation condition by NJUST37 was optimized in terms of temperature, pH, tricyclazole concentration and additional carbon and nitrogen sources. After the inoculation of NJUST37 into a pilot-scale powdered activated carbon treatment tank treating real fungicide wastewater, tricyclazole removal efficiency increased to higher than 90%, demonstrating the great potential of NJUST37 for bioaugmentation particularly on tricyclazole biodegradation in practice.

MXene, as an emerging group of two-dimensional layered material, attracted more and more attention due to its extraordinary physical properties. In this study, a sandwich-like Co3O4/MXene (CMs) composite was prepared via a one-step heating method and used as a novel catalyst to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for Bisphenol A (BPA) degradation. The sample (CM-20%) achieved an efficient catalytic activity with 95% removal of BPA at 20 mg/L within 7 min. Meanwhile, the parameters in the degradation process were optimized. In particular, CM-20% obtained excellent BPA removal efficiency in a wide pH range (4–10). Anions like NO3− and Cl− had a slight negative effect while HCO3− had a great negative effect on catalytic activity in CM-20%/PMS system. Notably, the catalyst exhibited a good performance after 5 consecutive runs and the leached cobalt ion was negligible. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis and quenching tests identified SO4 − and OH were the reactive species. The pathway of degradation was also detected by analyzing its intermediates using LC-MS. This work provides a new field of MXene composite material for PMS remediation of organic pollutant and widens the application of MXene in environmental remediation field.

Clean water production calls for highly efficient and less energy-intensive technologies. Herein, a novel concept of a sequential ultrafiltration-catalysis membrane is developed by loading Co3O4/C@SiO2 yolk-shell nanoreactors into the fingerlike channels of a polymeric ultrafiltration membrane. Such a sequenced structure design successfully integrates selective separation with peroxymonosulfate-based catalysis to prepare a functionalized molecular sieve membrane, which exhibits excellent decontamination performance toward multipollutants by filtering the water matrices containing humic acid (HA) and bisphenol A (BPA). In this study, 100% rejection of HA and 95% catalytic degradation of BPA were achieved under a low pressure of 0.14 MPa and an ultrahigh flux of 229 L m-2 h-1, corresponding to a retention time of 3.1 s. Notably, the removal performance of multiple pollutants essentially depends on the ordered arrangement of ultrafiltration and catalysis. Moreover, the flow-through process demonstrated significant enhancement of BPA degradation kinetics, which is 21.9 times higher than that of a conventional batch reactor. This study provides a novel strategy for excellent removal of multiple pollutants in water.

Nanofiltration (NF) is an advanced environmental technology in water treatment. To thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane, good compatibility between nanofillers and polyamide (PA) layer is the guarantee of remarkable performance. Herein, tannic acid (TA) was employed as modifier of UIO-66-NH2 prior to the interfacial polymerization (IP). With TA modification, more interaction can be formed so that the compatibility between nanofillers and PA layer can be promoted at the molecular level. Characterizations demonstrated the coating of TA on UIO-66-NH2, together with successful introducing of nanofillers in TFN membranes. Compared to pristine thin film composite (TFC) membrane, both UIO-incorporated TFN (TFN-U) and TA modified UIO-incorporated TFN (TFN-TU) membranes showed higher permeance (111.2% and 93% enhancement, respectively). However, under the same nanofillers dose, TFN-TU exhibited slightly lower permeance and higher rejection than TFN-U since the bridging effect of TA healed non-selective voids in skin layer. With the increasing of nanofiller dose in IP, TFN-TU remained reasonable selectivity while TFN-U failed to. Moreover, TFN-TU showed better anti-fouling property due to TA modification. Introducing TA modified MOFs into IP can serve as an ingenious strategy for TFN membrane to achieve high-quality environmental applications.

Efficient and selective removal of antibiotics from wastewater is quite important but challenging. In this work, the nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon nanospheres (NMCN) with different pore size (from 2.67 to 4.62 nm) were successfully prepared by changing the hydrothermal condition, and their removal performance on tylosin was evaluated. The adsorption experimental data were fitted well with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Besides, Langmuir isotherm model could better describe the adsorption process. Notably, the NMCN with medium pore size (3.36 nm) exhibited the highest adsorption capacity (1333 mg g−1), which was 24% and 14% higher than that of NMCNs with smaller and larger pore size, respectively. In order to study the adsorption mechanism, the mesoporous carbon nanospheres without N-doped was prepared, and the comparison of nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms was conducted. The result proved that in addition to the modified surface property, large specific surface area, and high pore volume, the pore size could precisely influence the adsorption performance of the proposed adsorbent. Furthermore, the proposed NMCN material possessed a selective adsorbing ability toward tylosin in the presence of tetracycline. Clearly, the NMCN was a promising alternative to be used as high efficient and selective adsorbent in practical environment pollution treatment, especially in large-size molecule adsorption.

Capsule: Sulfide-modified α-FeOOH remediates both low and high arsenic/antimony levels under varying pH and competitive anions – conditions common in wastewater. © 2020 Elsevier LtdEfficient elimination of As(V) and Sb(V) from wastewater streams has long been a major challenge. Herein, sulfide-modified α-FeOOH adsorbent was fabricated via a simple sulfidation reaction for removing As(V) and Sb(V) from aqueous media. Compared with the pristine α-FeOOH, sulfide-modified α-FeOOH increased the adsorption of As(V) from 153.8 to 384.6 mg/g, and Sb(V) adsorption from 277.8 to 1111.1 mg/g. The enhanced adsorption of both As(V) and Sb(V) was maintained at the pH range from 2 to 11, and was not interfered by various coexisting anions such as Cl−, SO42−, NO3−, SiO32− and PO43−. The adsorption affinity increased from 0.0047 to 0.0915 and 0.0053 to 0.4091 for As(V) and Sb(V), respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic investigation demonstrated a reductive conversion of As(V) to As(III) during the adsorption process with sulfide-modified α-FeOOH, but with no obvious variation of Sb(V) speciation. While the removal mechanism for As(V) was reduction followed by adsorption via hydroxyl groups, mainly surface complexation was involved in the removal of Sb(V). This study presented a simple strategy to enhance the adsorption capacity and adsorption affinity of α-FeOOH toward As(V)/Sb(V) via sulfide-modification. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The application of bioelectrochemical system (BES) for recalcitrant contaminant removal is a promising strategy for wastewater treatment but is limited to the low cathodic reduction efficiency. In this paper, a new approach using polypyrrole as nitrogen source has been utilized for the fabrication of nitrogen-doping graphene (NG) modified graphite felt (GF) electrodes. The results of the Raman spectrum and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed that the nitrogen species, i.e., pyridinic N, pyrrolic N and graphitic N, in the NG sheets could be conveniently controlled by tuning the pyrolysis temperature from 300 to 600 °C during carbonization process. Cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectra measurements verified that the catalytic activity and electron transfer efficiency of the ‘as prepared’ electrodes were greatly improved. Due to the synergistic effect of pyrrolic N and graphitic N, the 4-nitrophenol reduction efficiency of the modified cathode increased 2.1 times higher than that of blank GF cathode in the BES system.

In this study, a pyridine-degrading strain namely NJUST30 was isolated from aerobic granules capable of degrading pyridine and was identified as Paracoccus sp. At incubation temperature of 30 °C, initial pH of 7.0 and initial pyridine concentration of 500 mg L−1, complete pyridine removal could be achieved within incubation period as short as 54 h. Pyridine biodegradation profile by NJUST30 could be well fitted by the first-order decay kinetic model, suggesting the recalcitrant nature of pyridine and the inhibitory effect of pyridine towards NJUST30. Major intermediates during pyridine biodegradation by NJUST30, including 2,4-dihydroxy-2H-pyridine-3-one, 2-carbonyl-succinic acid, 1,2-dihydro-pyridin-2-ol, piperidin-2-ol and 4-formylamino-butyric acid were identified through HPLC/MS. Based on these intermediates, a distinct pyridine biodegradation pathway via hydroxylation, pyridine ring cleavage, carbonylation and carboxylation was revealed for the first time.

Simultaneous pyridine biodegradation and nitrogen removal were successfully achieved in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) based on aerobic granules. In a typical SBR cycle, nitritation occurred obviously after the majority of pyridine was removed, while denitrification occurred at early stage of the cycle when oxygen consumption was aggravated. The effect of several key operation parameters, i.e., air flow rate, influent NH4+-N concentration, influent pH and pyridine concentration, on nitritation, pyridine degradation and total nitrogen (TN) removal, was systematically investigated. The results indicated that high air flow rate had a positive effect on both pyridine degradation and nitritation but a negative impact of overhigh air flow rate. With the increase of NH4+ dosage, both nitritation and TN removal could be severely inhibited. Slightly alkaline condition, i.e., pH7.0-8.0, was beneficial for both pyridine degradation and nitritation. High pyridine dosage often resulted in the delay of both pyridine degradation and nitritation. Besides, extracellular polymeric substances production was affected by air flow rate, NH4+ dosage, pyridine dosage and pH. In addition, high-throughput sequencing analysis demonstrated that Bdellovibrio and Paracoccus were the dominant species in the aerobic granulation system. Coexistence of pyridine degrader, nitrification related species, denitrification related species, polymeric substances producer and self-aggregation related species was also confirmed by high-throughput sequencing.

Simultaneous removal of multi-component pollutants from atmosphere is crucial for personal protection. Herein, porous carbon spheres (PCSs) with 1.2 mm diameter were prepared through the phase inversion route followed by carbonization using g-C3N4 and PVDF as precursors. The structure and chemical property of PCSs can be tailored via controlling the content of g-C3N4 due to its dual-function of template and nitrogen source. The resultant PCSs possess high surface areas, rich nitrogen content and favorable micro/meso/macro hierarchical porous structure, which are highly desired for simultaneous removal of benzene and H2S. The dynamic adsorption behaviors for benzene and H2S were investigated to examine the protective performance. Owing to the abundant porous structure and chemical polarity, PCSs extend the protective performance for H2S under retention of adsorption performance for benzene. The promotion on adsorption performance for H2S from mixture could be attributed to the change of electron distribution on nitrogen atom caused by the adsorbed benzene. The adsorption kinetic confirmed the enhancement on mass transfer ascribed to meso/macro hierarchical porous structure. These results revel that PCSs would be a promising adsorbent in personal protective equipment for VOCs and TICs.

Developing novel coating materials for fast and sensitive solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is highly desired but few are achieved. In this work, a new material of metal-organic framework (MOF)-derived hollow carbon nanocubes (HCNCs) was prepared as a fiber coating material for SPME. The HCNC-coated fiber (denoted as HCNCs-F) exhibited a better enrichment performance than solid carbon nanocube (SCNC)-coated fiber (denoted as SCNCs-F) and commercial fibers based on the abundant active sites of the hollow structure, hydrophobic interactions, and π-π interactions. Moreover, because of the reduced mass-transport lengths of the hollow mesoporous structure, the HCNCs-F demonstrated a faster mass transfer compared with the SCNCs-F. The HCNCs-F was used to determine the six hydrophobic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with wide linear ranges (10-2000 ng L-1 for naphthalene and 5-2000 ng L-1 for the other five analytes), good reproducibility (relative standard deviation < 8.8%), and low detection limits (0.03-0.70 ng L-1). Finally, the HCNCs-F was successfully applied for the determination of PAHs from the real water samples. It can be concluded from the results that MOF-derived hollow carbon materials are promising candidates for the fast SPME and can be used for practical applications in analytical chemistry.

Teixobactin, targeting lipid II, represents a new class of antibiotics with novel structures and has excellent activity against Gram-positive pathogens. We developed a new convergent method to synthesize a series of teixobactin analogues and explored structure-activity relationships. We obtained equipotent and simplified teixobactin analogues, replacing the l- allo-enduracididine with lysine, substituting oxygen to nitrogen on threonine, and adding a phenyl group on the d-phenylalanine. On the basis of the antibacterial activities that resulted from corresponding modifications of the d-phenylalanine, we propose a hydrophobic interaction between lipid II and the N-terminal of teixobactin analogues, which we map out with our analogue 35. Finally, a representative analogue from our series showed high efficiency in a mouse model of Streptococcus pneumoniae septicemia.

The electrode material with high electrosorption capacity and fast electrosorption rate is highly desired in capacitive deionization (CDI) process. To meet this demand, the nitrogen-doped cluster-like porous carbons (NCPCs) with hierarchical hollow nanoarchitecture were rationally prepared by carbonizing the polydopamine/nano-ZnO composite and employed as CDI electrodes. The resultant NCPCs possess an interconnected hierarchical structure with a hollow cavity, nitrogen-doping property, high specific surface, large pore volume and good wettability. All these merits can ensure a huge accessible electrosorption interface for the very quick diffusion of ions so that achieve an excellent CDI performance. Particularly, the sample carbonized at 900 °C (NCPC-900) with the optimal porous structure and chemistry composition exhibits the highest electrosorption capacity of 11.98 mg g− 1 in 100 mg L− 1 NaCl solution. Besides, the NCPC-900 electrode shows a good cycle stability over 20 electrosorption-desorption cycles. These results render that the NCPCs have the great potential as the electrode material for high performance CDI desalination.

A series of novel blend ultrafiltration (UF) membranes have been successfully prepared from commercial poly (ether sulfone), lab-synthesized sulfonated poly (aryl ether sulfone) (SPAES, 1 wt%) and copper nanoparticles (0 ∼ 0.4 wt%) via immersion precipitation phase conversion. The micro-structure and separation performance of the membranes were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and cross-flow filtration experiments, respectively. Sodium alginate, bovine serum albumin and humic acid were chosen as model organic foulants to investigate the antifouling properties, while E. coil was used to evaluate the antibacterial property of the fabricated membranes. By the incorporation with SPAES and copper nanoparticles, the hydrophilicity, antifouling and antibacterial properties of the modified UF membranes have been profoundly improved. At a copper nanoparticles content of 0.4 wt%, the PES/SPAES/nCu(0.4) membrane exhibited a high pure water flux of 193.0 kg/m2 h, reaching the smallest contact angle of 52°, highest flux recovery ratio of 79% and largest antibacterial rate of 78.9%. Furthermore, the stability of copper nanoparticles inside the membrane matrix was also considerably enhanced, the copper nanoparticles were less than 0.08 mg/L in the effluent during the whole operation.

Arsenic-contaminated water has significant adverse impacts on human health and ecosystems. We developed a new adsorptive membrane by modifying the porous support layer of a phase inversion formed membrane for arsenic removal. Iron oxide (Fe3O4) microspheres were immobilized in the support layer of the membrane by reverse filtration, followed by dopamine polymerization. The prepared adsorptive membrane was compared with a virgin membrane without Fe3O4 microspheres and a Fe3O4 blended membrane in terms of membrane structures and separation performance. The adsorptive membrane prepared by our new method had comparable water permeability and rejection performance with the virgin membrane without Fe3O4 microspheres, but higher rejection performance and dynamic adsorption capacity than the membrane prepared by the conventional blending method. Both static and dynamic adsorption modes were used to evaluate the adsorption performance of the membranes. Our new adsorptive membrane also had excellent regeneration performance. After three regeneration cycles, the membrane was still capable of treating more than 2 tons of As-contaminated water/m2. The adsorptive membrane of 1 m2 could treat over 7 tons of water to the drinking water standard in terms of arsenic concentration during three regeneration cycles. Therefore, our adsorptive membrane may pave a new way for arsenic removal from water and ensuring drinking water security.

In this work, we have fabricated a kind of N-doped hierarchal carbon fiber web by electrospinning hollow mesoporous carbon spheres (HMCSs) into fibrous structure. The as-synthesized carbon fiber web with novel mulberry-like morphology, thus denoted as MC-FW, possesses micro/meso/macroporous porosity, large surface area, high conductivity and multi-level structure, which are highly desired for supercapacitor electrode materials. The electrochemical measurements demonstrate that the designed MC-FW shows high capacitance (298.6 F g−1), favorable capacitance retention (71.0%) and long cycle life (97.3% capacitance retention after 5000 cycles). Notably, the capacitance of 298.6 F g−1 for MC-FW is higher than the capacitance reported so far for many hollow carbon spheres and carbon fibers, which may contribute to the synergistic effect between the merits of HMCSs (e.g. micro/meso/macroporous hierarchal structure, large surface area, high pore volume) and advantages of 1D carbon fiber (e.g. large aspect ratio and high conductivity). It is believed that this distinctive carbon fiber web may show promising prospects as advanced energy storage materials and catalyst.

Flue gas desulphurization (FGD) gypsum is an abundant waste generated from coal-fired power plants. This study evaluated the potential application of hydroxyapatite (F-HAP) derived from FGD gypsum for immobilization of lead (Pb) and copper (Cu) in water and soil. MINTEQ software was employed to determine the species distribution of Pb(II) and Cu(II) at different solution pH conditions. The factors that affect sorption behavior such as pH effect, sorption kinetics, thermodynamics, and isotherms were investigated using batch tests. Various kinetics and isotherms models were used to fit the obtained data. The experimental results showed that the amount of Pb(II) and Cu(II) adsorbed on F-HAP increased as the pH increased from 2.0 to 6.0, and adsorption was enhanced with the rise in temperature. The predicted maximum adsorption capacities were found to be 1.376 and 0.460. mmol/g for Pb(II) and Cu(II), respectively. The values of mean free energy (E) obtained from Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) model implied that the chemical reaction, which was stronger than ion exchange governed the process of Pb(II) adsorption, while the adsorption of Cu(II) was mainly ascribed to ion exchange. XRD analysis revealed that the final solid obtained after Pb(II) immobilization was mainly mixed of pyromorphite and F-HAP, while the final solid acquired after Cu(II) immobilization still consisted of a single phase of F-HAP. On the other hand, application of F-HAP in contaminated soil effectively reduced the leachable and exchangeable Pb and Cu, reflecting that F-HAP is a potential material for remediating environmental pollution with Pb and Cu. This study realized the potential of a modified geochemical waste material towards remediation of metal contaminated soils, providing very useful and valuable information for other similar solid wastes, such as paper sludge and phosphogypsum. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The facile synthesis and engineering of highly active catalysts is an urgent requirement for the practical application of environmental remediation. In this report, we demonstrate the convenient synthesis of Co3O4-incorporated carbon composite (Co3O4/CC) by pyrolysis of a cobalt complex modified cotton cloth, which can be extended to other cellulose products (cotton, filter paper). Benefitting from the ultrafine Co3O4 particles with a mean particle size of ∼7.4 nm, the Co3O4/CC catalyst exhibits excellent performance for biphenol A (BPA) removal based on the sulfate radical (SO4˙−) process. Notably, as a proof-of-concept application, the Co3O4/CC packed column as a microreactor was designed and used in the continuous-flow reaction. Leveraging on the long half-life time period and high oxidability of SO4˙−, the degradation rate of BPA could increase above 95% at a flow rate of 2 mL min−1 when the total BPA solution reached to 1400 mL. The convenient synthesis of a high-performance catalyst and its efficient application to a continuous-flow reaction represent a further step towards practical application of SO4˙− based advanced oxidation processes.

In this work, Fe3O4@C yolk-shell carbon architecture were fabricated in one pot sol-gel process and further examined as adsorbents for the removal of sulfamethazine. To understand yolk-shell structure on the adsorption properties of sulfamethazine, another adsorbent without hollow cavity, i.e., Fe3O4@SiO2@C carbon material, was also prepared for comparison. The adsorption results showed the yolk-shell carbon materials complied with the pseudo-second order kinetics model. Based on the Langmuir model the yolk shell material possess a Qmax of 312 mg g−1, which is higher than that of core-shell materials (236 mg g−1). Due to the magnetic property, the yolk-shell carbon materials can be retrieved facilely from the aqueous media by an external magnet and 89.1% of recovery can be achieved over five adsorption desorption cycles. Possessing high surface area, a well-defined interface of the material and central cavity the as-prepared material has proved to be a potentially eminent adsorbent for the broad scale removal of sulfamethazine from industrial processes.

The simultaneous rational optimization of structure and composition is extremely important for improving the catalytic performance of yolk–shell nanoreactors, but has been rarely achieved so far. In this work, yolk–shell Co3O4/C@SiO2 nanoreactors (YSCCSs) are facilely synthesized by coordinating the growth of Co-zeolitic imidazole framework (ZIF-67) crystals with the hydrolysis/condensation of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS). In this process, the preliminarily formed ZIF-67 crystals play an essential role in the final structure of YSCCSs, which can be used as the template for silicon hydroxide growth and the precursors for carbon and cobalt species. To present the advantages of YSCCSs as a catalyst, sulfate-radical-based advanced oxidation processes (SR-AOPs) for bisphenol A (BPA) degradation were chosen as the model reaction. For comparison, three other catalysts, including yolk–shell Co3O4@SiO2 nanoreactors (YSCSs), and Co3O4 and ZIF-67 derived Co3O4/C nanoparticles, were also tested. The results show that YSCCSs exhibit significant BPA degradation performance over YSCSs, and CO3O4 and Co3O4/C nanoparticles. This outstanding catalytic performance is ascribed to the rational optimization of the catalyst from the following two aspects: (i) confinement effect of yolk–shell nanostructure and the improved dispersity of carbon supported Co3O4 species enhance the catalytic activity and stability (structure optimization); and (ii) the existence of graphitized carbon accelerates the electron transport from the catalyst to peroxymonosulfate (PMS) and thus increases the reaction kinetics (composition optimization). The results of this research show that metal–organic framework (MOF)-derived nanoreactors with a rational structure and composition have a promising application prospect for environmental remediation.

A novel single-step approach, named phase transformation interfacial growth (PTIG), was developed for the fabrication of metal-organic framework membranes on polymeric substrates. Both the separation layer and the substrate were formed within the PTIG process. This innovative methodology paves a way for fabricating high-quality MOF membranes.

Achieving Cd removal standards is a difficult task due to the strict Cd discharge standards for industrial wastewater. Moreover, the low concentration of Cd remaining in industrial wastewater after pretreatment often exists in a complex state, and the wastewater has a high salinity. Hereupon, we propose to use a small amount of sulfur-modified zero-valent iron (S-NZVI) to remove residual low-concentration Cd complexes in high-salinity wastewater. EDTA-Cd (2000 μg/L) was completely removed when the dose of S-NZVI was only 0.05 g/L. Moreover, the removal process was almost unaffected by salinity. Even when the salinity was 5%, the adsorption capacity still reached 39.5 mg/g, and the concentration of residual Cd was less than 50 μg/L, which meets the China Environmental Protection Administration emission standards (less than 0.1 mg/L). In addition, S-NZVI can almost completely remove EDTA-Cd in the pH range of 2-7. It shows good removal performance for the other four Cd carboxyl complexes (DTPA, citrate, glycine, and tartrate). Furthermore, S-NZVI also shows good performance in the case of high concentrations of coexisting ions (CaCl2, MgCl2, Na2SO4, NaNO3) and organics (Na2EDTA, imidazole, thiourea, acetone). However, the performance of S-NZVI is certainly inhibited by the presence of complexing substances or reducing substances. The mechanism EDTA-Cd removal by S-NZVI is that S-NZVI leaches Fe3+ into the solution, and the Fe3+ completes the replacement of EDTA-Cd. The LMCT produced by EDTA-Fe under natural light promotes the replacement process, and finally, the released Cd2+ is captured by S-NZVI and removed as CdS and Fe-O-Cd.

Purification of various types of industrial wastewater containing chelated heavy metals (CHMs) remains a challenging task due to the easy dissolution, poor biodegradation and extremely high stability over a wide pH range. Compared with the common CHMs, the attention of Cr(III) complexes is greatly insufficient. Especially, Cr(III) of the wastewater is easily reoxidized and converted into Cr(VI) with high biotoxicity during the transferring process, so the treatment of Cr(III) complexes needs to be treated more strictly. Obviously, compared with previous advanced oxidation and replacement-coprecipitation technologies, adsorption method could directly remove Cr(III) complexes in one step, thus avoiding the accumulation of secondary toxic Cr(VI). Considering that ferrihydrite (Fh) materials are widely distributed on the nature, excellent adsorption performance, low cost, and environmentally friendly, this paper proposes a novel strategy that uses the common Fh as an efficient adsorbent to realize one-step elimination of typical EDTA-Cr(III) complexes without introducing secondary pollution. Batch experiment results illustrated that more than 93% of EDTA-Cr(III) was removed at pH = 3 or 6 (a final concentration of

A novel electrochemical filter has been prepared for the effective adsorption and electrochemical oxidation of aqueous organic pollutants. The adsorptive electrode utilized in the electrochemical filter was a porous Graphite-RuO 2 electrode decorated with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) adsorption layer, which was prepared by sol–gel coating, thermal decomposition, and vacuum filtration synthesis. The morphology and composition of adsorptive electrode characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed a uniform distribution of RuO 2 active coating and MWCNTs adsorption layer. Electrochemical measurements indicated that the adsorptive electrode possessed a favorable oxygen evolution potential (OEP) of 1.42 V and inner voltammetric charge 170.05 mC·cm −2 , which were higher than that of non-MWCNTs electrode. Furthermore, the mass transfer of adsorptive electrode was enhanced as high as 4.6-fold in the electrochemical filter. The optimal operation parameters obtained was 3 mA·cm −2 and 7 g·L −1 Na 2 SO 4 . Under this condition, the electrochemical filter can remove > 97% of pyrrole and >75% of total organic carbon. The pyrrole oxidation mechanism of electrochemical filter was also investigated, revealed three dominant reaction stages: adsorption (≤0.3 V), direct oxidation (0.3–1.2 V) and indirect oxidation (>1.2 V). In general, the high electrochemical performance of Graphite-RuO 2 -MWCNTs filter on pyrrole removal resulted from the enhanced mass transfer, which attributed to the synergistic effect of adsorption from MWCNTs, electrochemical oxidation and convection by filtration.

Metal-organic framework (MOF) nanocrystalline materials have received great attention because of their application in heterogeneous catalysis. However, they suffer from poor separation from reaction mixtures in practical applications. In this study, we report the first cobalt metal-organic framework containing zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF)-67 nanoparticles immobilized on electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers, which was used as a composite catalyst (ZIF-67/PAN) for activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS). Detailed characterization showed that the ZIF-67/PAN nanofibers possessed a flexible one-dimensional structure. To demonstrate the catalytic performance of the ZIF-67/PAN nanofibers, the activation of PMS for the catalytic degradation of acid yellow-17 (AY) was chosen as the model catalytic reaction. The results show that 95.1% of AY (500 mg L−1) was removed by ZIF-67/PAN in 10 min, which is much higher than many other PMS catalyst. More interestingly, the flexible ZIF-67/PAN composite nanofibers catalysts were not only easy to separate from solution but they also retained high catalytic stability. The influencing factors for PMS activation were also investigated, including the catalyst dosage, reaction temperature, solution pH, and doping with competing organic molecules. The degradation mechanism was elucidated by electron paramagnetic resonance experiments. This work provides a new sight into the fabrication of high-performance MOF catalysts with outstanding recycling properties, which may promote the use of MOF materials in more practical applications.

Ordered mesoporous silica (OMS) film supported on anodized titanium wire was fabricated as a new solid phase microextraction (SPME) fiber for the extraction of chlorophenols (CPs) from aqueous media followed by the determination with gas chromatography flame ionization detection (GC-FID). The supported OMS film was prepared via a solvent evaporation-induced self-assembly approach (EISA) combined with dip-coating technology. Commonly used fragile fused silica fiber was replaced by anodized titanium wire. The coating materials were characterized by N2 adsorption-desorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. The N2 adsorption-desorption results show the OMS material has well-ordered mesostructure with uniform pore diameter. The SEM images verify that the OMS film was successfully grafted onto the surface of anodized titanium wire. The resultant method based on the OMS fiber exhibited wide linear ranges (0.2-200μgL-1), low detection limits (0.03-0.12μgL-1) and good repeatabilities (6.2-9.8% for one fiber, 8.9-13.2% for fiber-to-fiber). No significant change was observed after being subjected into high temperature or immersed in organic solvents. The new fiber was successfully applied to the extraction and determination of three CPs compounds in the natural water samples. Thus, the OMS fiber is a promising alternative to the commercial fiber as it is easily and inexpensively prepared with high extraction capacity and good stability.