npj Clean WaterPub Date : 2024-09-09DOI: 10.1038/s41545-024-00380-z
Graeme Prentice-Mott, Lorna Maru, Alexandra Kossik, Evelyn Makena Mugambi, Cynthia Ombok, Raymond Odinoh, Florence Mwikali, Ruthie Rosenberg, Isaac Ngere, Jennifer Murphy, David Berendes
{"title":"ATP-based assessments of recent cleaning and disinfection for high-touch surfaces in low-resource shared toilets","authors":"Graeme Prentice-Mott, Lorna Maru, Alexandra Kossik, Evelyn Makena Mugambi, Cynthia Ombok, Raymond Odinoh, Florence Mwikali, Ruthie Rosenberg, Isaac Ngere, Jennifer Murphy, David Berendes","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00380-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00380-z","url":null,"abstract":"Quality improvements and reduction of disease risk for low-resource shared sanitation facilities require cleanliness assessment approaches that are both rigorous and practical. Using Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence testing, we assessed contamination on high-touch (HT) surfaces (inner door handles) at 32 shared toilet sites in Kisumu, Kenya. In public toilets, contamination was lowest after cleaning and disinfection (C&D) with 0.5% chlorine solution (adjusted difference in mean log10 Relative Light Units per 100 cm2 (aDiff): −1.61; CI: −2.43, −0.59), followed by C&D with 0.1% chlorine solution (aDiff: −1.16; CI: −1.77, −0.55). ATP levels were not associated with overall observable toilet cleanliness and had poor agreement with visually assessed HT surface cleanliness. Our findings demonstrate the utility of this field-feasible method for detecting the impact of recent C&D in low-resource shared toilets, a novel setting for ATP cleanliness testing, while also highlighting the importance of using effective C&D procedures and addressing HT surfaces within cleaning protocols.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":" ","pages":"1-9"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00380-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142160567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Phosphate ester-linked carbonized polymer nanosheets to limit microbiological contamination in aquaculture water","authors":"Anisha Anand, Binesh Unnikrishnan, Chen-Yow Wang, Jui-Yang Lai, Han-Jia Lin, Chih-Ching Huang","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00378-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00378-7","url":null,"abstract":"In this study, we developed a simple, low-temperature method to synthesize carbonized polymer nanosheets (CPNSs) using sodium alginate, a biopolymer derived from algae, and diammonium hydrogen phosphate. These nanosheets are produced through a solid-state pyrolysis at 180 °C, involving dehydration, cross-linking through phosphate ester bonds, and subsequent carbonization, forming 2D structured CPNSs. These synthesized CPNSs exhibit excellent bacterial adsorption capabilities, particularly against V. parahaemolyticus and S. aureus. When applied to ordinary filter paper, the CPNS-modified paper efficiently filters bacteria from aquaculture water, removing over 98% of V. parahaemolyticus within two hours and maintaining effectiveness after 24 h. In contrast, control filter paper showed significantly reduced efficiency over the same period. Our filtration tests demonstrated enhanced survival rates for shrimp in aquaculture systems, highlighting the potential of CPNSs-modified filter paper as a suitable treatment to reduce the microbiological contamination levels in recirculating aquaculture systems in the event of a disease outbreak.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00378-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142138070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Anchoring Ni(II) bisacetylacetonate complex into CuS immobilized MOF for enhanced removal of tinidazole and metronidazole","authors":"Saptarshi Roy, Soumya Ranjan Mishra, Vishal Gadore, Ankur Kanti Guha, Md. Ahmaruzzaman","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00375-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00375-w","url":null,"abstract":"Here in this study, a novel ternary CuS/HKUST‒1/Ni(acac)2 nano photocatalyst (CSHK‒Ni) was developed through a facile modification of HKUST‒1 MOF with Ni(acac)2 metal complex and by immobilizing CuS into the metal-organic framework (MOF). The incorporation of CuS, a narrow bandgap semiconductor, is anticipated to allow easy excitation by visible-light and improve the photocatalytic potential of the formulated catalyst which is validated by the decrease in the bandgap energy from 3.10 eV of pristine MOF to 2.19 eV. Moreover, the anchoring of the metal complex improves the light harvesting behavior by increased conjugation. Photoluminescence studies provided evidence of the effective separation of the photoinduced charge-carriers, reducing the rate of recombination and enhancing the photocatalytic potential of the CSHK‒Ni nanocomposite. The engineered catalyst displayed remarkable efficiency in the degradation of nitroimidazole containing antibiotics, Tinidazole (TNZ) and Metronidazole (MTZ), via H2O2 assisted AOP achieving a maximum photocatalytic efficiency of 95.87 ± 1.64% and 97.95 ± 1.33% in just 30 min under irradiation of visible light at optimum reaction conditions. The possible degradation pathway was elucidated based on the identification of ROS and degradation intermediates via HR‒LCMS and quenching experiments. Meanwhile, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC) removal were also examined, encompassing the discussing of various aspects including reaction conditions, influence of various oxidizing agents, competing species and dissolved organic substrates present in the wastewater, marking the novelty of the study. This research elucidated the role of the CSHK‒Ni nanocomposite as an interesting photocatalyst in the elimination of emerging nitroimidazole containing pharmaceutical pollutant under visible-light exposure, presenting an exciting novel avenue for a cleaner and greener environment in the days to come.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":" ","pages":"1-26"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00375-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142138075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj Clean WaterPub Date : 2024-09-01DOI: 10.1038/s41545-024-00369-8
Nadeem Baig, Ismail Abdulazeez, Niaz Ali Khan, Muhammad Bilal Hanif
{"title":"Experimental and theoretical assessment of bioinspired next-generation intercalated graphene oxide-based ceramic membranes for oil-in-water emulsion separation","authors":"Nadeem Baig, Ismail Abdulazeez, Niaz Ali Khan, Muhammad Bilal Hanif","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00369-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00369-8","url":null,"abstract":"2D graphene oxide (GO) membranes are gaining prominence for water reclamation from oily wastewater. Unresolved challenges include low membrane permeance from tight sheets and fouling during separation. In this work, a bioinspired Arabic gum (AG) was used as an intercalated agent with the help of glutaraldehyde to improve the GO membranes’ permeation and fouling resistance. The 2D-laminated separating layer is crafted through a self-assembling innovative approach utilizing pressurized dead-end assembly. The Arabic gum intercalated graphene oxide-modified ceramic membrane (AGIGO-CM) appeared superhydrophilic and underwater (UW) superoleophobic with a UW oil contact angle (UWOCA) of 156.1 ± 1.2°. The membrane prepared with 1 mg of AGIGO (AGIGO-1-CM) offers a flux of 17 times higher than pristine graphene oxide (p-GO) while maintaining a separation efficiency of >99% during the separation of the oil-in-water emulsions. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations showed AG intercalation expanding the interlayer distance by up to 20 Å, with AGIGO having a higher fractional free volume (FFV) of 0.986 compared to p-GO’s 0.599. AGIGO-CM displayed lower interfacial formation energy (EIFE) of −1865.2 kcal/mol versus −765.5 kcal/mol for p-GO, indicating easier separation. It is further supported by the substantial interfacial thickness of 148 Å for AGIGO-CM compared to 53.0 Å for the p-GO membranes. AGIGO-CM showed minimal fouling, retaining >99% separation efficiency for 6 h. Compared to p-GO-CM, AGIGO-CM flux decreased by only 17.84% versus 44.72%. AGIGO-CM exhibited stability even in acidic and basic environments, showcasing its potential for high performance.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":" ","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00369-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142101432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"S-ZVI@biochar constructs a directed electron transfer channel between dechlorinating bacteria, Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 and trichloroethylene","authors":"Honghong Lyu, Hua Zhong, Zhilian Li, Zhiqiang Wang, Zhineng Wu, Jingchun Tang","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00376-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00376-9","url":null,"abstract":"The combination of micron zero-valent iron (mZVI) and microorganisms is an effective method for trichloroethylene (TCE) degradation, but electron transfer efficiency needs improvement. A new chem-bio hybrid process using a composite material (S-ZVI@biochar) was developed, consisting of sulfurized mZVI and biochar as a chemical remover, and Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 and dechlorinating bacteria (DB) as a biological agent for TCE degradation. S-ZVI@biochar showed improved stability, biocompatibility, and TCE removal compared to ZVI and S-ZVI. The hybrid system DB + MR-1 + S-ZVI@biochar exhibited the highest TCE removal efficiency at 96.5% after 30 days, which was 3.7 times higher than that of bare ZVI. The study revealed that the enhanced dechlorination performance was due to improved electron transfer efficiency, adjustment of microbial community structure, and iron recycling. S-ZVI@biochar constructed electron transport channels in the composite system, improving the overall dechlorination capacity. This system shows promise for long-term TCE removal in anaerobic environments.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":" ","pages":"1-18"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00376-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142101433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj Clean WaterPub Date : 2024-08-28DOI: 10.1038/s41545-024-00372-z
Xinyi Gong, Qingtao Ma, Luxiang Wang, Dianzeng Jia, Nannan Guo, Xin Du, Xuemei Wang
{"title":"Wrinkled hierarchical porous carbon spheres with interconnected multi-cavity for ultrahigh capacitive deionization","authors":"Xinyi Gong, Qingtao Ma, Luxiang Wang, Dianzeng Jia, Nannan Guo, Xin Du, Xuemei Wang","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00372-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00372-z","url":null,"abstract":"As one of the most promising electrode materials for capacitive deionization (CDI), the development of carbon materials with controllable pore structure and continuous mass production is essential for their practical application. Herein, a facile ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method was developed to synthesize surface-functionalized wrinkled hierarchical porous carbon spheres (HCS) with unique interconnected multi-cavity structures. The wrinkled and interconnected multi-cavity hierarchical pores of the HCS play a crucial role in providing accessible ion adsorption sites and promoting ion diffusion and storage in the “multi-cavity warehouse”. The carboxyl groups on the surface of HCS generate a negative charge that promotes the adsorption of cations. The optimized HCS possesses outstanding desalination capacity (114.25 mg g−1), fast adsorption rate (6.57 mg g−1 min−1), and superior cycling stability (95%). Meanwhile, the HCS exhibited impressive desalination capacities in brackish water. Furthermore, the density functional theory calculation results confirmed that the synergistic effect of carboxyl groups and defects significantly enhanced the Na+ adsorption capacity and facilitated ion diffusion. This study extends the synthesis method of surface-functionalized hierarchical porous carbon, which is expected to facilitate the development of CDI electrode materials.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":" ","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00372-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142090188","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj Clean WaterPub Date : 2024-08-22DOI: 10.1038/s41545-024-00370-1
Dongping Liu, Lei Nie, Beidou Xi, Hongjie Gao, Fang Yang, Huibin Yu
{"title":"A novel-approach for identifying sources of fluvial DOM using fluorescence spectroscopy and machine learning model","authors":"Dongping Liu, Lei Nie, Beidou Xi, Hongjie Gao, Fang Yang, Huibin Yu","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00370-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00370-1","url":null,"abstract":"Rivers are well known as one of the most threatened aquatic environments, whose structure and water quality can be deeply impacted by intensive anthropogenic activities. Despite the fact that anthropogenic influences on river ecosystems could indeed be deduced from the composition and chemistry of fluvial dissolved organic matter (DOM), sources of anthropogenic loading to DOM are still poorly explored. Here, by uniting fluorescence excitation-emission matrices (EEM) and principal component absolute coefficient, four sources of DOM from seventeen rivers in major drainage basins of China could be identified, i.e., originating from municipal sewage, domestic wastewater, livestock wastewater, and natural origins, and thus being defined as MS-DOM, DW-DOM, LW-DOM, NO-DOM, respectively. Based on the random forest model, special nodes in EEM could be traced from four sources, respectively. According to parallel factor analysis, DOM mainly contained protein-like, microbial humic-like, and fulvic-like fluorescence substances, among which protein-like was dominant in MS-DOM and DW-DOM, microbial humic-like in LW-DOM, and fulvic-like in NO-DOM. Based on key peaks and essential nodes in EEM, the identifying source indices were first proposed, which could be introduced to simply distinguish the different anthropogenic-derived sources of fluvial DOM. It was associated with intensity ratios of the key peaks and the essential nodes of EEM spectra from four sources, i.e., municipal sewage (MS-SI: Ex/Em = 280/(335, 410) nm), domestic wastewater (DW-SI: Ex/Em = 280/(340, 410) nm), livestock wastewater (LW-SI: Ex/Em = 235/(345, 380) nm), and natural origins (NO-SI: Ex/Em = 260/(380, 430) nm). By statistical analysis, the high identifying source indices of municipal sewage (>0.5) and natural origins (>0.4) values could be related to MS-DOM and NO-DOM, respectively. The identifying source indices of domestic wastewater with 0.1–0.3 might be linked to DW-DOM and the identifying source indices of livestock wastewater with 0.3–0.4 to LW-DOM. Compared with conventional optical indices, the novel identifying source indices showed remarkable discrimination for the sources of fluvial DOM with different forms of anthropogenic disturbances. Hence the innovative approach could be relatively convenient and accurate to evaluate water quality or pollution risk in river ecosystems.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":" ","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00370-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142041789","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj Clean WaterPub Date : 2024-08-22DOI: 10.1038/s41545-024-00366-x
Hafiza Hifza Nawaz, Muhammad Umar, Iqra Nawaz, Rao Muhammad Ihsan, Humaira Razzaq, Hugh Gong, Xuqing Liu
{"title":"Photo responsive single layer MoS2 nanochannel membranes for photocatalytic degradation of contaminants in water","authors":"Hafiza Hifza Nawaz, Muhammad Umar, Iqra Nawaz, Rao Muhammad Ihsan, Humaira Razzaq, Hugh Gong, Xuqing Liu","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00366-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00366-x","url":null,"abstract":"The major polluting aspects of our global fashion industries are the textile wastewater that turns black all our freshwater reservoirs. Nano-filtration through membrane technology is one of the biggest solutions of industrial wastewater treatment but the fouling of membrane is the major limitation of previous work. In this research, novel PVDF/MoS2-TNT (PMT) nanocomposite membranes were fabricated through a modified In-situ polymerisation phase inversion method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis also confirmed the β-phase of PVDF within the developed PVDF/MoS2-TNT membrane. XPS analysis provides evidence about the presence of a specific chemical states of titanium nanotube and molybdenum disulphide which is involved in the photocatalytic degradation of pollutant molecules. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) shows that our membranes are porous in nature. PVDF/MoS2-TNT membranes exhibit excellent filtration efficiency (∼97%) for textile wastewater. The results and outcomes of the research demonstrate that PMT membranes have enormous potential in the commercial application of textile wastewater treatment.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":" ","pages":"1-16"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00366-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142041792","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
npj Clean WaterPub Date : 2024-08-20DOI: 10.1038/s41545-024-00373-y
Dar Murtaza Ahmad, Jonghun Kam
{"title":"Disparity between global drought hazard and awareness","authors":"Dar Murtaza Ahmad, Jonghun Kam","doi":"10.1038/s41545-024-00373-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41545-024-00373-y","url":null,"abstract":"Drought is a pervasive natural hazard, which can profoundly affect ecosystems and societies globally. To strengthen the global community’s resilience to droughts, a multi-dimensional understanding of global drought awareness is imperative. Here we investigate global drought awareness at local (awareness of local droughts in the affected country), remote (awareness of remote droughts in other countries), and global levels (awareness from non-exposed countries). This study uses relevant search activity volumes of a country to drought as a proxy of national-level drought awareness. We find that the recent decade has experienced no change in drought hazard over the globe, but the global community has been increasingly seeking information about drought online, that is, elevated awareness of the global community on drought. We further find that long-lasting droughts enhance local- and global-level awareness and high gross domestic product are associated with remote-level awareness. This study provides an observational evidence of global disparities in the awareness/interest regarding drought, underscoring a continuing role of European nations in enhancing global drought awareness.","PeriodicalId":19375,"journal":{"name":"npj Clean Water","volume":" ","pages":"1-8"},"PeriodicalIF":10.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41545-024-00373-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142007379","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}