Dear Colleagues,

The adsorption of cations and anions in natural geological minerals has many advantages, as they are plentifully available and have low cost, thus making the process economical. Non-geological materials such as secondaries are either waste materials or process residues which are cheaper and also available in large excess. The utilization of these materials in adsorption not only contributes to the adsorption process but also contributes to the recycling of the material, representing a green solution. Process residues in the course of plant processing acquire active sites by thermal treatment, chemical attack, or heavy-duty physical processing (e.g., grinding). These materials can also be used as adsorbents. Modification of minerals’ surfaces as well as synthetic minerals have found very specialized applications because of their specialized tailor-made modification and synthesis.

Heavy metal contamination in water reserves has created havoc in the last several decades. Organic pollutants, toxic substances, oils and greasy matter, fertilizers, etc. are released into water bodies and percolated to groundwater when discarded in landfills, directly or indirectly making water polluted and unfit for drinking and domestic uses. The removal of these pollutants is essential, and has drawn attention worldwide.

This Special Issue is projected to collect research related to cationic and anionic adsorption on mineral surfaces and aims to assemble in one frame in different specialized categories.

This Special Issue is organized into three sections:

Section 1: Adsorption of cations and anions in broad areas such as inorganic heavy and light metals, organic ions, biological waste or biomaterials (e.g., nucleic acids, amino acids, carbohydrates and derivatives) as well as the loading and release of drugs from medical and pharmaceutical waste, as well as ions released and taken up in different substrates in the agricultural and fertilizer sector. Comprehensive research on advances in the selective adsorption of inorganic and organic ions.

Section 2: Research on types of adsorbents, as well as the structural and textural properties of adsorbents (e.g., naturally occurring geological minerals); research on non-geological materials like acid/base/polymer-modified minerals, synthetic clays and minerals such as porous and layered clays, synthetic zeolite and geopolymers, waste secondaries and plant residues/foundry wastes.

Section 3: Computational simulation and modelling as well as kinetic modelling of adsorbent surface and adsorption mechanism, including first-principles calculation and surface science related to the mineral–solute interface.

The objective of this Special Issue is to collect recent research on a broad range of topics related to cationic and anionic adsorption on natural and synthetic mineral surfaces, including inorganic, organic, medical, agricultural, and fertilizer sectors, in one special forum.

Dr. Barsha Dash
Dr. Manishkumar D. Yadav
Guest Editors

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• cationic and anionic adsorption of inorganic and organic ions, agriculture and fertilizer, medical and pharmaceutical sectors
• selective adsorption, computational modelling and kinetics
• natural and synthetic porous and layered clays, zeolite and geopolymers
• non-geological materials like secondaries, plant residues, and acid/base/polymer-modified minerals as adsorbents
• molecular modelling and simulation of adsorbent surfaces and adsorption mechanisms