Yang Liu

Emerging contaminants (ECs), including pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), endocrine‐disrupting chemicals (EDCs), pesticides, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), have attracted increasing attention due to their persistent occurrence and potential risks to ecosystems and human health. Enzymatic bioremediation has attracted increasing attention because of its high catalytic efficiency, substrate specificity, and environmental friendliness. However, the practical application of free enzymes is limited by poor stability, easy deactivation, and low reusability. Enzyme immobilization has emerged as an effective strategy to enhance enzyme stability, activity retention, and operational performance. This review summarizes recent advances in immobilized enzymes for the degradation of ECs, with a focus on laccase, peroxidases, catalase, and organophosphorus hydrolase. Different immobilization methods and support materials, including metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), magnetic nanomaterials, biochar, and carbon‐based materials, are critically compared. Current challenges, such as mass‐transfer limitations, by‐product toxicity, and scale‐up issues, are discussed. Future prospects, including AI‐assisted carrier design and multienzyme catalytic systems, are also highlighted.

Cationic dyes pose potential health risks to humans due to their higher toxicity levels. Most current research focuses on the utilization of biomass waste in the preparation of multifunctional materials to mitigate the adverse impact of cationic dye wastewater on the environment. However, conventional methods of biochar preparation require elevated pyrolysis temperatures and greater energy consumption. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of the removal of methylene blue (MB) from simulated wastewater using a one-step phosphoric acid activation hydrothermal carbonization technique. SEM, BET, XRD, FTIR, and XPS analyses were conducted to investigate the surface morphology and chemical composition of pine sawdust (PS) biomass as a raw material, pine sawdust with hydrothermal carbon (HTC-PS), and pine sawdust with phosphoric acid-activated hydrothermal carbon (PHTC-PS). The results demonstrate that PHTC-PS exhibits a maximum adsorption capacity of 268.4 mg/g for MB at 298 K. The experimental data demonstrate its consistency through both the Langmuir isotherm model and pseudo-second-order kinetic model, suggesting that its adsorption mechanism predominantly involves monolayer formation through chemical interactions. Additionally, thermodynamic parameters reveal that the MB adsorption of PHTC-PS is a spontaneous endothermic reaction. Thus, this study demonstrates that the one-step phosphoric acid activation hydrothermal carbonization method can achieve satisfactory adsorption efficiency with the advantages of lower energy consumption, simplicity to the operation, and mild preparation conditions.

Sodium p-perfluorous nonenoxybenzene sulfonate (OBS) is one of the key alternatives to perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). Its widespread tendency has increased extensive contamination in the aquatic environment. However, the present treatment technology for OBS exhibited insignificant adsorption capacity and long adsorption time. In this study, three proportions (1:5, 3:5, and 10:1) of chitosan-modified amino-driven graphene oxide (CS-GO) were innovated to strengthen the OBS adsorption capacity, compared with graphene oxide (GO) and graphene (GH). Through the characterization of SEM, BET, and FTIR, it was discovered that CS was synthetized on GO surfaces successfully with a low specific surface area. Subsequently, batch single influence factor studies on OBS removal from simulated wastewater were investigated. The optimum removal efficiency of OBS could be achieved up to 95.4% within 2 h when the adsorbent was selected as CS-GO (10:1), the dosage was 2 mg, and the pH was 3. The addition of inorganic ions could promote the adsorption efficiency of OBS. In addition, CS-GO presented the maximum adsorption energy due to additional functional groups of -NH₃, and electrostatic interaction was the foremost motive for improving the adsorption efficiency of OBS. Moreover, OBS exhibited the fastest diffusion coefficient in the CS-GO-OBS solution, which is consistent with the fitting results of adsorption kinetics.

As an alternative for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), sodium p-perfluorononyloxybenzene sulfonate (OBS) has been widely used in petroleum, fire-fighting materials, and other industries. In order to efficiently and economically remove OBS contaminations from water bodies, in this study, a ternary heterojunction was constructed by coupling BiOBr and BiOI@Bi₅O₇I for improving the redox capacity and carrier separation ability of the material and investigating the effect of the doping ratios of BiOBr and BiOI@ Bi₅O₇I on the performance of the catalysts. Furthermore, the effects on the degradation of OBS were also explored by adjusting different catalyst doping ratios, OBS concentrations, catalyst amounts, and pH values. It was observed that when the concentration of OBS was 50 mg/L, the amount of catalyst used was 0.5 g/L, and the pH was not changed. The application of BiOBr/BiOI@ Bi₅O₇I consisting of 25% BiOBr and 75% BiOI@ Bi₅O₇I showed excellent stability and adsorption degradation performance for OBS, and almost all of the OBS in the aqueous solution could be removed. The removal rate of OBS by BiOBr/BiOI@ Bi₅O₇I was more than 20% higher than that of OBS by BiOI@Bi₅O₇I and BiOBr when the OBS concentration was 100 mg/L. In addition, the reaction rate constants of BiOBr/BiOI@ Bi₅O₇I were 2.4 and 10.8 times higher than those of BiOI@ Bi₅O₇I and BiOBr, respectively. Therefore, the BiOBr/BiOI@ Bi₅O₇I ternary heterojunction can be a novel type of heterojunction for the efficient degradation of OBS in water bodies.

With the increasing presence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in aqueous environments, PPCPs have posed serious biological and environmental impacts and threatened human health

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are emerging contaminants of concern that can enter the human body through a variety of pathways and thereby cause harmful effects. Exposure of pregnant women to PFASs could even affect both the mother and the child. Human serum albumin (HSA) is considered to be the primary transport protein for a variety of substances in body fluids. It can be bound to different contaminants and might result in possible effects on human health. Yet, few studies are available on the binding affinity of legacy PFASs and their novel alternatives to HSA. In this study, the binding mechanisms of HSA to both legacy PFASs and their novel alternatives were investigated using fluorescence spectroscopy, together with further molecular docking. The results show that all the target PFASs were statically quenched against HSA with binding ratios of 1:1. The binding constants of long-chain PFASs and novel alternatives of perfluoroalkanesulfonic acids (PFSAs) were greater than 10², whereas those of short-chain PFASs alternatives and novel alternatives of perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) were less than 10². In general, the binding affinities of PFCAs on HSA were less than that of PFSAs, while the binding affinities of short-chain PFASs alternatives on HSA were smaller than those of long-chain PFASs and their novel alternatives. Therefore, bindings to HSA could be considered as an important influencing factor for the bioaccumulation of legacy and novel PFASs in the human body.