Special Issue Introduction: Environmental Nanomaterials

Materials shape our architecture, our art, the way we harness sources of energy, and our fashion, the manner in which we procure water. Today, we are able to manipulate matter with unprecedented degrees of sophistication. New materials may be enablers for new medicines and technologies for providing water and energy. They may also create unforeseen challenges to the well-being of our water resources, the environment at large, and our health. Nanomaterials are the building blocks of nanotechnologies. While precise definitions of nanomaterials suitable for regulatory purposes are still being debated, they can be considered to be objects having a characteristic dimension from 1 to 100 nm and having “unique” or “novel” properties that are not shared by larger particles with the same chemical composition.

Advances in the methods for visualizing and characterizing objects at the nanoscale over the past 30 years are translating into a greater appreciation of the diversity and importance of nanomaterials in environmental systems. These advances are leading to new insights into the dynamics of element cycling and transport in ecosystems, better understanding of how nanoscale phases may differ in their properties compared with their bulk counterparts, and a growing ability to design nanoscale objects with great precision. Engineered nanomaterials with unique properties are being used to enhance technologies such as photocatalysis and adsorption applied in environmental quality control and waste treatment.

This issue of Environmental Engineering Science assembles research reporting on both new applications of nanomaterials and possible implications and environmental behaviors of nanoscale objects. Unlike many previous generations of new technologies, the scientific community itself has taken the lead from the outset in raising questions regarding the safety of nanotechnology. Research such as that sampled in this issue addresses the need to extract the benefits of these new materials in a responsible manner while reducing the uncertainties surrounding possible environmental consequences. Raising questions when nanotechnology is still in the early stages of its developmental trajectory may result in better safer products and less potential for liability for emerging industries.

These articles were solicited primarily from the membership of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) in response to a desire by members to use their newly adopted journal to bring together work from our community in an ongoing series of special issues dedicated to topics considered to be timely and important to AEESP members. Proposals for topics for future specialty issues may be directed to the editor-in-chief or to the AEESP publications committee.