Author Description

<p> Naturally available nanomaterials or those synthesized from natural resources become “new favorite” of material world due to their advantages of low cost, safety and environmental friendliness. They are honored as future “green materials” and widely used in fabricating various functional materials. Naturally available materials have been playing an increasingly important role in many fields such as environmental remediation, separation, catalysis, and polymer composites. This book collects latest research results on the new composites for environmental application, focusing on the study of fabricating functional composites using natural clay minerals. Naturally available materials or solid waste or minerals are good precursors for producing adsorbents. Composites based on sub-bituminous coal, lignite, and a blend of coal and Irvingia gabonensis seed shells, the Cl-type Mg-Al hydrotalcite (Cl-LDH), the hydroxyapatite decorated with carbon nanotube and Zirconium (Zr)-containing silica residue purification (ZSR-P) were proved to have good adsorption capability to Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions, antibiotic molecules, Cd(II), and fluoride, respectively. The nano-Mg(OH)2 loaded carbon cloth showed good separation effect for Eu(III), and the sodium-modified clinoptilolite showed good separation effect for CH4/N2 from coal bed gas. Also, natural nanoclay is an effective precursor for the preparation of inorganic-inorganic or organic-inorganic nano-hybrid materials. Using nano-kaolinite as a carrier, the inorganic-inorganic hybrid cobalt blue pigment with excellent color and stability can be obtained by surface co-precipitation and in-situ calcination crystallization process. The intercalation of 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin (AMC) molecules into the interlayer space of montmorillonite (MMT) can effectively inhibit fluorescence quenching and improve the detection effectiveness of Cr(VI) in water. The interlayer space of kaolinite can accommodate organic molecules to form an organic-i