Call for Papers for Special Issue: Environmental Application of Graphene and Graphene-Based Composites and Their Behaviors at Solid/Water Interfaces
摘要截稿:
全文截稿: 2019-03-01
影响因子: 6.793
期刊难度:
CCF分类: 无
中科院JCR分区:
• 大类 : 环境科学与生态学 - 1区
• 小类 : 环境科学 - 1区
Overview
Graphene and graphene-based composites have advantages of controlled pore size distribution, high surface area to volume ratio, and manipulatable surface chemistry, showing high efficiency in the control of various contaminants. The developments in environmental applications of graphene and graphene-based composites may lead to technological improvements in pollution management. The colloidal stability of graphene and graphene-based composites, depending on their physicochemical properties within the given aqueous conditions, is crucial in determining their use, their removal during wastewater treatment, their environmental fate and transport, their bioavailability, their risk assessment, their reactive oxygen species production, the toxicity to live beings, and the adsorption ability towards other contaminants. The change in the solution chemistry, the physicochemical properties of graphene and graphene-based composites and the interaction of graphene and graphene-based composites with water or solid surface will change their adsorption property, aggregation, deposition, transformation and toxicity in environments. Therefore, a comprehensive knowledge on the adsorption capacity for contaminants, aggregation, deposition, transformation and toxicity of graphene and graphene-based composites is important not only for promoting their industrial applications but also for more accurately evaluating their environmental mobility and fate and consequently assessing their environmental risks and impact.
In addition, some “blind spots” and knowledge gaps in graphene or graphene-based composite research are listed below:
1) Because of their special physicochemical properties, graphene and graphene-based composites have been widely used in the removal of contaminants. After serving as a contaminant carrier, it is found that graphene and graphene-based composites can significantly alter the transport and risk of contaminants. However, the work on the influence of adsorbed contaminants on graphene and graphene-based composites’ colloidal stability and toxicity is still scarce. In most contaminated areas, co-contamination is common. Therefore, the influence of common contaminant mixtures on the aggregation, deposition, transformation, and toxicity of graphene and graphene-based composites should be investigated.
2) To improve the special properties of graphene or graphene-based composites such as adsorption capacity, stability, and biocompatibility for a wide range of applications, some functional groups have been introduced. The physiochemical properties of the functionalized graphene or graphene-based composites are different from those of raw graphene distinctly, leading to the difference in the aggregation, deposition, transformation and toxicity of the functionalized graphene and graphene-based composites. Therefore, the environmental behavior and toxicity of the functionalized graphene or graphene-based composites should be explored.
3) With the rapid progress of the nanotechnology industry, it will be inevitable that different types of nanoparticles such as Ag, Al2O3, ZnO, CuO, TiO2, or zerovalent iron will enter into environments with graphene/graphene-based composites simultaneously. Accordingly, the transport, fate, and toxic potential of nanomaterial mixtures are likely to be distinct from those of individual materials. However, the insight into the hetero-aggregation, co-transport, and combined toxicity of graphene/graphene-based composites with these metal/metal oxide nanoparticles is still scarce.
4) To set up effective in-situ or ex-situ remediation technologies and assess the ecological risk of graphene and graphene-based composites after being used as adsorbents, it is of significance to understand the linkage among adsorption, colloidal behavior and the combined toxicity of graphene and graphene-based composites with contaminants.