Water quality has become global environment concern due to the alarming growing industrial activity and municipal effluents. In an attempt to contribute to global efforts to provide clean drinking water to society, the Sustainable Bio-Based Materials Lab at Auburn University has focused on the design of natural polymer assemblies for removal of water contaminants.<br/>This presentation will focus on current efforts on understanding the the relationship between macromolecule interactions, composition/surface functionality and supramolecular structure of macroscale adsorbents produced from naturally occurring polymers. Natural polymers, in particular polysaccharides such as cellulose and chitin are a renewable resource and constitute an essential component of the so-called circular economy. Combining the properties of different polysaccharides is a key component in the development of a new generation of functional materials in lieu of traditional fossil-based materials. Current advances on the behavior of these polysaccharides assemblies on 2D and 3D will be discussed, as well as chemical modification strategies to optimize their performance.

On the potential of natural polymers for efficient removal of emerging contaminants from water sources

ACS Spring 2022

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