Microfluidic Synthesis of Functional Materials as Potential Sorbents for Water Remediation and Resource Recovery

The advance of droplet-based microfluidics has enabled compartmentalization and controlled manipulation of monodispersed emulsions with high yield and incorporation efficiency. It has become a highly exotic platform in synthesizing functional material due to the presence of two immiscible liquids and the interface between them. With its intrinsic feature in high degree of product control, advanced emulsion-based synthesis of functional material is constituted as a template for effective water remediation and resource recovery. This chapter aims to provide an overview of recent advances in microfluidic technology for environmental remediation. More specifically, the facility of microemulsion-based functional materials for water remediation is reviewed. Moreover, the removal and recovery of pollutants, such as heavy metal, dye, pharmaceuticals, etc., from aquatic environment by the applications of adsorption on functional micro/nanomaterials are unfolded with respect to its potential for wastewater purification.