Nano‐Composites for Water Remediation: A Review

As global populations continue to increase, the pressure on water supplies will inevitably intensify. Consequently the international need for more efficient and cost effective water remediation technologies will also rise. The introduction of nano‐technology into the industry may represent a significant advancement and zero‐valent iron nano‐particles (INPs) have been thoroughly studied for potential remediation applications. However, the application of water dispersed INP suspensions is limited and somewhat contentious on the grounds of safety, whilst INP reaction mechanisms, transport properties and ecotoxicity are areas still under investigation. Theoretically, the development of nano‐composites containing INPs to overcome these issues provides the logical next step for developing nano‐materials that are better suited to wide application across the water industry. This review provides an overview of the range of static, bulk nano‐composites containing INPs being developed, whilst highlighting the limitations of individual solutions, overall classes of technology, and lack of comparative testing for nano‐composites. The review discusses what further developments are needed to optimize nano‐composite water remediation systems to subsequently achieve commercial maturity.     

Carbon‐Based Functional Materials Derived from Waste for Water Remediation and Energy Storage

Carbon‐based functional materials hold the key for solving global challenges in the areas of water scarcity and the energy crisis. Although carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene have shown promising results in various fields of application, their high preparation cost and low production yield still dramatically hinder their wide practical applications. Therefore, there is an urgent call for preparing carbon‐based functional materials from low‐cost, abundant, and sustainable sources. Recent innovative strategies have been developed to convert various waste materials into valuable carbon‐based functional materials. These waste‐derived carbon‐based functional materials have shown great potential in many applications, especially as sorbents for water remediation and electrodes for energy storage. Here, the research progress in the preparation of waste‐derived carbon‐based functional materials is summarized, along with their applications in water remediation and energy storage; challenges and future research directions in this emerging research field are also discussed.     

Efficient Aggregation‐Induced Emission Manipulated by Polymer Host Materials

Linear copolymer hosts bearing a number of pillar[5]arene dangling side chains are synthesized for the facile construction of highly emissive supramolecular polymer networks (SPNs) upon noncovalently cross‐linking with a series of tetraphenyethylene (TPE)‐based tetratopic guests terminated with different functional groups through supramolecular host–guest interactions. An extremely high fluorescence quantum yield (98.22%) of the SPNs materials is obtained in tetrahydrofuran (THF) by fine‐tuning the parameters, and meanwhile supramolecular light‐harvesting systems based on spherical supramolecular nanoparticles are constructed by interweaving 9,10‐distyrylanthracene (DSA) and TPE‐based guest molecules of aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) with the copolymer hosts in the mixed solvent of THF/H₂O. The present study not only illustrates the restriction of the intramolecular rotations (RIR)‐ruled emission enhancement mechanism regulated particularly by macrocyclic arene‐containing copolymer hosts, but also suggests a new self‐assembly approach to construct high‐performance light‐harvesting materials.     

Green-Solvent-Processable Composite Micro/Nanofiber Membrane with Gradient Asymmetric Structure for Efficient Microfiltration

Electrospinning technology has attracted extensive attention in recent decades and is widely used to prepare nanofiber membranes from hundreds of polymers. Polyvinyl formal acetal (PVFA), as a polymer with excellent properties such as high strength and heat resistance, is not reported on the electrospun water treatment membrane. In this paper, the preparation process of electrospun PVFA nanofiber membrane is optimized, and the effect of sodium chloride (NaCl) addition on the physical and mechanical properties and microfiltration performance of nanofiber membrane is also explored. And the hydrophobic PVFA nanofiber filter layer is then combined with a hydrophilic nonwoven support layer to construct a composite micro/nanofiber membrane with a pore-size gradient structure and a hydrophilic/hydrophobic asymmetric structure. Finally, unidirectional water transport and water treatment performance are further investigated. The results show that the tensile breaking strength of the composite membrane can reach up to 37.8 MPa, the retention rate for particles with the size of 0.1–0.3 µm is 99.7%, and the water flux is 513.4 L m⁻² h⁻¹ under the hydrostatic pressure. Moreover, it still has a retention of more than 98% after three repeated uses. Therefore, the electrospun PVFA composite membrane has a great potential in microfiltration.     

A Narrow‐Bandgap n‐Type Polymer Semiconductor Enabling Efficient All‐Polymer Solar Cells

Currently, n‐type acceptors in high‐performance all‐polymer solar cells (all‐PSCs) are dominated by imide‐functionalized polymers, which typically show medium bandgap. Herein, a novel narrow‐bandgap polymer, poly(5,6‐dicyano‐2,1,3‐benzothiadiazole‐alt‐indacenodithiophene) (DCNBT‐IDT), based on dicyanobenzothiadiazole without an imide group is reported. The strong electron‐withdrawing cyano functionality enables DCNBT‐IDT with n‐type character and, more importantly, alleviates the steric hindrance associated with typical imide groups. Compared to the benchmark poly(naphthalene diimide‐alt‐bithiophene) (N2200), DCNBT‐IDT shows a narrower bandgap (1.43 eV) with a much higher absorption coefficient (6.15 × 10⁴ cm^?1). Such properties are elusive for polymer acceptors to date, eradicating the drawbacks inherited in N2200 and other high‐performance polymer acceptors. When blended with a wide‐bandgap polymer donor, the DCNBT‐IDT‐based all‐PSCs achieve a remarkable power conversion efficiency of 8.32% with a small energy loss of 0.53 eV and a photoresponse of up to 870 nm. Such efficiency greatly outperforms those of N2200 (6.13%) and the naphthalene diimide (NDI)‐based analog NDI‐IDT (2.19%). This work breaks the long‐standing bottlenecks limiting materials innovation of n‐type polymers, which paves a new avenue for developing polymer acceptors with improved optoelectronic properties and heralds a brighter future of all‐PSCs.     

MOF‐Based Hierarchical Structures for Solar‐Thermal Clean Water Production

Solar‐thermal water evaporation, as a promising method for clean water production, has attracted increasing attention. However, solar water evaporators that exhibit both high water vapor generation ability and anti‐oil‐fouling ability have not been reported. Here, a unique metal–organic‐framework‐based hierarchical structure, referred to as MOF‐based hierarchical structure (MHS), is rationally designed and prepared, which simultaneously displays a high solar absorption and a superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic surface property. As a proof‐of‐concept application, a device prepared from the MHS can achieve a high solar‐thermal water evaporation rate of 1.50 kg m^?2 h^?1 under 1 sun illumination. Importantly, the MHS also possesses an excellent anti‐oil‐fouling property, ensuring its superior water evaporation performance even in oil‐contaminated water. The high solar‐thermal water evaporation rate and anti‐oil‐fouling property make the MHS a promising material for the solar‐thermal water production.     

Energy‐Efficient Oil–Water Separation of Biomimetic Copper Membrane with Multiscale Hierarchical Dendritic Structures

Membrane‐based materials with special surface wettability have been applied widely for the treatment of increasing industrial oily waste water, as well as frequent oil spill accidents. However, traditional technologies are energy‐intensive and limited, either by fouling or by the inability of a single membrane to separate all types of oil–water mixtures. Herein, a biomimetic monolayer copper membrane (BMCM), composed of multiscale hierarchical dendritic structures, is cleverly designed and successfully fabricated on steel mesh substrate. It not only possesses the ability of energy‐efficient oil–water separation but also excellent self‐recovery anti‐oil‐fouling properties (<150 s). The BMCM even keeps high separation efficiency (>93%) after ten‐time cycling tests. More importantly, it retains efficient oil–water separation capacity for five different oils. In fact, these advanced features are benefited by the synergistic effect of chemical compositions and physical structures, which is inspired by the typical nonwetting strategy of butterfly wing scales. The findings in this work may inspire a facile but effective strategy for repeatable and antipollution oil–water separation, which is more suitable for various applications under practical conditions, such as wastewater treatment, fuel purification, separation of commercially relevant oily water, and so forth.     

Polymeric Membranes with Selective Solution-Diffusion for Intercepting Volatile Organic Compounds during Solar-Driven Water Remediation

Solar evaporation through a photothermal porous material provides a feasible and sustainable method for water remediation. Several photothermal materials have been developed to enhance solar evaporation efficiency. However, a critical limitation of current photothermal materials is their inability to separate water from the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in wastewater. Here, a microstructured ultrathin polymeric membrane that enables freshwater separation from VOC pollutants by solar evaporation with a VOC removal rate of 90%, is reported. The different solution-diffusion behaviors of water and VOCs with polymeric membranes facilitate their separation. Moreover, owing to increased light absorption, enlarged liquid–air interface, and shortened mass transfer distance, the microstructured and ultrathin configuration of the membrane helps to balance the tradeoff between permeation selectivity and water production capacity. The membrane is not only effective for evaporation of simulated volatile pollutants in a prototype, but can also intercept complex volatile organic contaminants in natural water sources and produce water that meets drinking-water standards. With practical demonstration and satisfactory purification performance, this work paves the way for practical application of solar evaporation for effective water remediation.