article · Journal of environmental chemical engineering
Industrial and agricultural activities release persistent contaminants into water and soil, including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, phenolic residues, heavy metals, and dyes. Removing these pollutants demands highly effective and economical materials. Molecular imprinted polymers provide useful properties for environmental remediation, featuring modifiable surfaces, anion intercalation characteristics, and stable mineralisation capabilities. Clarifying the precise mechanisms by which these polymers capture diverse pollutants is necessary for developing advanced material structures. Recent research focuses on utilizing molecularly imprinted materials and nanocomposites for selective adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of targeted aquatic contaminants. Reviewing current synthesis and characterisation methods highlights ongoing efforts to refine these polymers for improved water purification performance.
Agricultural and industrial pollutants frequently contaminate aquatic environments, posing serious risks to human health and ecosystems. Molecular imprinting equips materials with custom cavities designed to capture specific toxic compounds. Coupling this precision capture with light-driven breakdown enables targeted, cleaner water treatment, which can help safeguard water resources from hard-to-remove chemical residues.
This technology targets advanced water treatment applications, of interest to municipal water utilities and industrial wastewater operators managing persistent residues like dyes, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals. Based on the abstract, the technology is at an early research and development stage, focused on composite preparation, characterisation, and mechanistic understanding in laboratory settings rather than operational deployment.
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With the growth of industry and agriculture, contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, phenolic residues, heavy metals, among others, have been caused serious pollution of water bodies and soil, so it is very urgently needed to find highly efficacious and cost-effective materials to remove these pollutants from environment. Owing to their low molecular weight, not easily degraded and long-term presence in the aquatic environment, super-stable mineralization effect, easily modifiable surfaces, and anion intercalation properties, molecular imprinted polymers (MIPs) present unique advantages in the removal of emerging pollutants. It is very critical to understand the mechanism of pharmaceuticals, pesticides, phenolic residues, dyes, and heavy metals removal by MIPs for the subsequent design of the adsorbent and photodegradation materials structure. Herein, we discuss the recent advancements in the applications of MIPs in water treatment, with a major focus on their use in adsorption and photocatalysis. The preparation methods and characterization of MIPs intended for water treatment are discussed at the beginning of this review. Then it discusses the potential of MIPs-based nanocomposites for the selective photocatalytic degradation and adsorption of a wide range of pollutants in water. Finally, a summary and the ongoing research efforts in this field is further provided.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.jece.2024.112768
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