Biopolymers-based materials for pollutants detection and removal

Discovering new strategies that combine high efficiency with sustainability is paramount in tackling contemporary challenges in water remediation, particularly concerning organic pollutants like dyes, pharmaceutical compounds, or food contaminants or carcinogenic heavy metals. In this context, the development of adsorbent materials from waste natural sources, such as food scraps, can be a promising approach to produce advanced materials at low cost, leveraging on the transformation of wastes into high-added value products according to the principles of Circular Economy. Furthermore, through appropriate functionalization (i.e. with nanoparticles (NPs), organic receptors or conductive polymers) it becomes feasible to integrate pollutant adsorption with its detection and, eventually, degradation. This work present various systems developed in our laboratory based on biopolymers (alginate or chitosan) or nature-inspired polymers (polydopamine).