Nanotechnology in agriculture: Current status, challenges and future opportunities

Heterogeneous Fenton catalysts: A review of recent advances.

An explanation of soil amendments to reduce cadmium phytoavailability and transfer to food chain.

Manganese dioxide (MnO2 ) is a promising photo-thermo-electric-responsive semiconductor material for environmental applications, owing to its various favorable properties. However, the unsatisfactory environmental purification efficiency of this material has limited its further applications. Fortunately, in the last few years, significant efforts have been undertaken for improving the environmental purification efficiency of this material and understanding its underlying mechanism. Here, the aim is to summarize the recent experimental and computational research progress in the modification of MnO2 single species by morphology control, structure construction, facet engineering, and element doping. Moreover, the design and fabrication of MnO2 -based composites via the construction of homojunctions and MnO2 /semiconductor/conductor binary/ternary heterojunctions is discussed. Their applications in environmental purification systems, either as an adsorbent material for removing heavy metals, dyes, and microwave (MW) pollution, or as a thermal catalyst, photocatalyst, and electrocatalyst for the degradation of pollutants (water and gas, organic and inorganic) are also highlighted. Finally, the research gaps are summarized and a perspective on the challenges and the direction of future research in nanostructured MnO2 -based materials in the field of environmental applications is presented. Therefore, basic guidance for rational design and fabrication of high-efficiency MnO2 -based materials for comprehensive environmental applications is provided.

MnO2 -Based Materials for Environmental Applications.

Phosphate removal from aqueous solution using iron oxides: Adsorption, desorption and regeneration characteristics.

Mixed-valent iron [Fe(II)-Fe(III)] minerals such as magnetite and green rust have received a significant amount of attention over recent decades, especially in the environmental sciences. These mineral phases are intrinsic and essential parts of biogeochemical cycling of metals and organic carbon and play an important role regarding the mobility, toxicity, and redox transformation of organic and inorganic pollutants. The formation pathways, mineral properties, and applications of magnetite and green rust are currently active areas of research in geochemistry, environmental mineralogy, geomicrobiology, material sciences, environmental engineering, and environmental remediation. These aspects ultimately dictate the reactivity of magnetite and green rust in the environment, which has important consequences for the application of these mineral phases, for example in remediation strategies. In this review we discuss the properties, occurrence, formation by biotic as well as abiotic pathways, characterization t...

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A. Chaudhary

Papers

Magnetite and Green Rust: Synthesis, Properties, and Environmental Applications of Mixed-Valent Iron Minerals