Pollution remediation articles from across Nature Portfolio

Due to technological, economic and environmental constraints, contemporary treatment plants cannot treat all wastewater. In particular, the very high amount of agricultural and urban runoff to be treated is increasingly concerning, especially with more erratic — and unpredictable — rainfall events. Passive ecosystem services can be combined with engineered processes to create hybrid, locally adapted, inexpensive and sustainable technologies to more feasibly treat runoff and wastewater globally.

A cost-effective process to achieve defluorination of chlorinated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) provides valuable insight for sustainable chemical design.

Supramolecular chemistry based on cyclodextrin receptors as second-sphere ligands contribute to developing non-covalent materials with synergistic functionalities. Herein, we comment on a recent investigation of this concept, describing selective gold recovery through a hierarchical host-guest assembly specifically built from β-CD.

The amount of microplastics released into aquatic environments when synthetic fabrics are laundered can be substantially decreased with a low-friction, liquid-like polymer coating.

Sustainably addressing the water needs of populations in countries lacking adequate infrastructure is challenging. We discuss the potential of decentralized water and wastewater treatment using electrified processes across Latin American countries and reflect on what would help their implementation in the region.

Wu et al. provide mechanistic insight into how the plant symbiotic fungus Metarhizium robertsii can reduce mercury accumulation in soil.