Advanced Functional Materials for Environmental Remediation

Environmental pollution caused by heavy metals, refractory organics, micro/nanoplastics, and other emerging contaminants represents a critical challenge affecting ecosystems, biodiversity, and human health. Conventional remediation approaches often encounter limitations such as low removal efficiency, high operational costs, and secondary environmental impacts. Against this backdrop, the field of advanced functional materials has rapidly grown, offering novel pathways for pollution treatment and resource recovery. Recent studies highlight the powerful roles of nanostructured, porous, and hybrid materials—such as metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), aerogels, and bio-composites—in adsorption, catalysis, and immobilization processes. However, the complex interplay between material structure, reaction mechanisms, and environmental media is not yet fully understood, and scalable technologies for field applications remain under development. These challenges call for multidisciplinary research integrating materials science, environmental chemistry, and process engineering to advance sustainable remediation strategies.This Research Topic aims to showcase breakthroughs in the design, fabrication, and application of advanced functional materials for environmental remediation. It seeks to deepen the understanding of structure–property relationships, reveal reaction pathways, and demonstrate the practical potential of emerging materials in real-world settings. Contributions are expected to address key scientific questions such as how material architecture influences pollutant interactions, how catalytic processes can be optimized for selectivity and stability, and how eco-safety can be ensured throughout the material life cycle. By bringing together researchers from materials science, environmental engineering, and energy conversion disciplines, this Research Topic will foster innovative ideas, strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration, and promote the transition from laboratory innovation to industrial-scale implementation.The Research Topic encompasses a broad yet defined scope focused on environmentally functional materials for pollution control and resource recovery. To gather further insights within energy materials, colloidal materials, and interface-related systems, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Development of carbon-based, metallic, and bio-derived materials for pollutant capture and immobilization• Emerging porous materials (MOFs, COFs, aerogels) for adsorption and catalytic degradation• Redox, photocatalytic, and electrocatalytic materials for water purification, soil restoration, and air treatment• Mechanistic insights into interfacial processes and reaction kinetics in complex environmental media• Waste-derived functional materials and life-cycle evaluations of green remediation strategies• Smart materials and sensing interfaces for pollution monitoring and control• Scale-up approaches and field demonstrations bridging laboratory synthesis with practical applications Topic editors: Wei Wang, Jinkai Xue, Heng Dong, Ying Zhang Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83669/advanced-functional-materials-for-environmental-remediation