Gary Owens

Gary Owens
University of South Australia | UniSA · Mawson Institute

PhD, Adelaide University

About

243
Publications
68,190
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
14,105
Citations

Publications

Publications (243)
Article
Full-text available
Interfacial solar evaporation‐based seawater desalination is regarded as one of the most promising strategies to alleviate freshwater scarcity. However, the solar evaporation rate of real seawater is significantly constricted by the ubiquitous salts present in seawater. In addition to the common issue of salt accumulation on the evaporation surface...
Preprint
Full-text available
Interfacial solar evaporation-based seawater desalination is regarded as one of the most promising strategies to alleviate freshwater scarcity. However, the solar evaporation rate of real seawater is significantly constricted by the ubiquitous salts present in seawater. In addition to the common issue of salt accumulation on the evaporation surface...
Article
While rare earth elements (REEs) play key roles in many modern technologies, the selectivity of recovering of REEs from mining wastewater remains a critical problem. In this study, iron nanoparticles (FeNPs) synthesized from euphorbia cochinchinensis extracts were successfully used for selective recovery of REEs from real mining wastewater with rem...
Article
The efficient removal and recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from mine wastewater is highly desirable due to the increasing public demands to both protect the environment and recover valuable REEs resources. In this study, bio-nanoparticles ([email protected]), which combined extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and iron nanoparticles (FeNP...
Article
While laccase oxidation is a novel and promising method for treating arsenite-containing wastewater, the high cost and unsustainability of commercially available enzymes indicate a need to investigate more cost-effective viable alternatives. Here, a microorganism sustained secrete laccase-straw oxidation system (MLOS) was established and subsequent...
Article
As feed additives, oxytetracycline (OTC) and copper ion (Cu(II)) are often detected in livestock and poultry farming wastewater. To address this issue, firstly, the synthesis conditions of Fe/Mn nanoparticles (Fe/Mn NPs) were initially optimized using a response surface methodology (RSM) to yield highly active Fe/Mn NPs, where the application of RS...
Article
The co-existence of contaminants such as triclosan (TCS) and Cadmium in wastewater is a major public health problem because of their persistence and toxicity. In this study, bio-reduced graphene oxide (B-rGO) synthesized by Lysinibacillus sp. Simultaneously remove TCS and Cd(II), with adsorption capacities of 81.91 and 23.32 mg g⁻¹, for TCS and Cd...
Article
Biosynthesis strategies are promising methods for the sustainable preparation of nanoparticles because they are less toxic to living organisms and the environment. However, there are still several knowledge gaps concerning the exact mechanisms involved in the biosynthesis of bimetallic composites when used for the removal of arsenic species. Thus,...
Article
While the availability of arsenic (As) in soil is well known to be highly correlated with the presence of iron (Fe) oxides and humic acid (HA) in the soil, the relationship between Fe oxides and HA and As species in the soil is less well understood. In this study, As speciation in an unsaturated soil in the presence of external HA and green synthes...
Article
The widespread use of antibiotics, such as oxytetracycline (OTC) and levofloxacin (LEV), has led to dangerous levels of environmental contamination. In this study, functionalized iron/manganese nanoparticles (Fe/Mn NPs), which act as both adsorbent and Fenton catalyst, were green-synthesized using a reducing agent derived from a tea extract. The re...
Article
Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic contaminant, which is ubiquitous in wastewater and poses a serious threat to the natural environment. In this study, biofunctional reduced graphene oxide (B-rGO) was synthesized using Lysinibacillus sphaericus and subsequently successfully used to remove 99.2% of 10.0 mg L⁻¹ Cd(II). Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) g...
Article
Recently, bimetallic Fe-Pd nanoparticles were integrated with metal organic frameworks (MOFs) to produce a new composite catalyst with significant potential for organic contaminant removal due to enhanced adsorption and reduction. Here, 85.9% of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) was successfully removed from aqueous solution within 120 min when using a...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose Understanding the mechanisms of interaction between humic acids (HAs) and metal ions in soil media is essential for integrated environmental and agricultural management. This study aims to select the best isotherm model and explore the correlation between physicochemical properties of humic acids isolated from forest soils and metal ion sor...
Article
The integration of metal–organic frameworks with other functional materials has recently emerged as a promising approach for creating innovative materials for environmental remediation. Here, a nano-sized iron/nickel (Fe/Ni) functionalized zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8-Fe/Ni) was fabricated for oxytetracycline (OTC) removal from wastewate...
Article
Despite arsenic (As) bioavailability being highly correlated with water status and the presence of iron (Fe) minerals, limited information is currently available on how externally applied Fe nanomaterials in soil-rice systems affect As oxidation and stabilization during flooding and draining events. Herein, the stabilization of As in a paddy soil b...
Article
Plant-mediated synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) is a green and economically viable method, which can offer numerous benefits over traditional chemical and physical methods. In this paper, three fruit extracts (tomato, orange, and grapefruit) served simultaneously as stabilizing and reducing agents during the biosynthesis of Ag NPs. The fo...
Article
Since ofloxacin (OFX) is one of many common antibiotics, which effluxes into aquatic environment in relatively high concentration, it has become of significant environmental concern due to the potential for increased antibiotic resistance. In this study, an innovative functional Fe/[email protected] composite was successfully used for the Fenton-li...
Article
Controlling the slow release of drugs in carriers and reducing environmental pollution and damage from antibiotics is important and challenging research. In this paper, a novel composite material of carbonized [email protected] (C-Fe3O4@ZIF-8) was used to load and release doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX). Compared with conventional ZIFs materials, g...
Article
Manganese tetroxide (Mn3O4) nanomaterials were prepared by green tea extract and applied to catalyze sodium peroxydisulfate (PDS) for the simultaneous degradation of estriol/17a-ethinylestradiol (E3/EE2) with removal efficiencies of 97.5 and 96.4% for E3 and EE2, respectively. XPS also showed that before and after the reaction the divalent manganes...
Article
Full-text available
Using minimal photothermal material to achieve maximum evaporation rate is extremely important for practical applications of interfacial solar evaporation technology. In this work, we found that with the increase in the size of evaporation surfaces, the evaporation rate decreased. Both experimental and numerical simulation results confirmed that wh...
Article
Since antimony (Sb) is a toxic metalloid cost-effective method for the simultaneous removal of the two major Sb species from mining wastewater has attracted much attention. In this study, phytosynthesized iron nanoparticles (nFe) prepared using a eucalyptus leaf extract were successfully used to simultaneously remove Sb(III) and Sb(V) via an adsorp...
Article
Arsenic (As) is a contaminant of global concern due to its negative impact on environmental systems, where As occurs mainly as two inorganic species, arsenite (As(III)) and arsenate (As(V)). Thus the simultaneously removal of both As(III) and As(V) from groundwater is a challenging issue. In this paper, zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) with hi...
Article
Arsenic contamination is an increasing global environmental problem, especially in mining industry wastewater where both arsenite (As(III)) and arsenate (As(V)) have been routinely detected. In this paper, a novel porous metal-organic framework material (ZIF-8) was composited with iron nanoparticles (FeNPs) to form a functional material ([email pro...
Article
The discharge of high volumes of waste brine from desalination plants is a serious environmental challenge. While emerging zero liquid discharge (ZLD) technologies hold promise for the treatment of waste brine, the high inherent energy consumption limits their practical applications. In this work, an affordable and easy-to-fabricate solar evaporati...
Article
Antimony (Sb) contamination is a significant environmental issue in mining impacted areas, where the use of nanomaterials to remove such metalloid species has attracted much research attention. In this study, the simultaneous removal of Sb(III) and Sb(V) was investigated using a reduced graphene oxide/Fe/Ni (rGO-Fe/Ni NPs) composite. Compared to rG...
Article
Recently green synthesized hybrid iron-manganese nanoparticles (Fe–Mn NPs) have attracted considerable research attention due to their potential to remove contaminants from wastewater. However, the exact mechanism involved in the green synthesis of Fe–Mn NPs and the influence that synthetic conditions have on the contaminant removal efficiency of t...
Article
Due to its low-cost, eco-friendliness and easy mode of separation biosynthesized magnetic ferroferric oxide (Fe3O4) can be successfully used for the removal of organic contaminants from wastewater. However, there are some challenges that to date have limited this compound’s practical removal efficiency. Thus, in this study, a cobalt-based zeolitic...
Article
Full-text available
In trace metal (TM)-contaminated agricultural soils, management of TM availability is important for safe crop production. In addition, maintenance or improvement of soil quality is vital for sustainable crop cultivation. Decreased TM phytoavailability and increased soil quality can be achieved by the application of various immobilizing agents to so...
Article
Recently, the green synthesis of iron nanoparticles and associated hybrids using plant extracts has attracted much attention due to its low cost, simplicity and environmental friendliness. However, the exact formation mechanism is still unclear. In this study, the one step green synthesis of hybrid rGO/Fe NPs by a tea extract was examined using a r...
Article
Interfacial solar water evaporation is a reliable way to accelerate water evaporation and contaminant remediation. Embracing the recent advance in photothermal technology, a functional sponge was prepared by coating a sodium alginate (SA) impregnated sponge with a surface layer of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to act as a photothermal conversion med...
Article
Interfacial solar evaporation is a sustainable and efficient way to enhance water evaporation during seawater desalination and wastewater treatment. In this work, this concept is applied for heavy metal (HM) soil remediation, which is a major global challenge currently limiting food production and endangering human health. Inspired by natural trans...
Article
Interfacial solar steam generation is an efficient way to produce freshwater from saline water. This technology was further harnessed here for simultaneous saline soil remediation and enhanced agricultural sustainability. An interfacial solar evaporation and planting system was designed that uses treated seawater for saline soil washing and agricul...
Article
Since the incidences of arsenicosis have significantly increased worldwide in the last decade, remediation of arsenic (As) pollution is now imperative. In this study, calcined green synthesized Fe/Ni nanoparticles (C–Fe/Ni NPs) were evaluated for their efficacy for As (V) removal from aqueous solution. Under optimal experimental conditions As (V) r...
Article
The laccase enzymatic characteristics and delignification processes of rice straw by Comamonas testosteroni FJ17 were investigated. Artificial intelligence modeling and molecular docking revealed the specific functional properties involved in the interaction between laccase and lignin compounds with a maximum laccase activity of 2016.7 U L⁻¹ at 24...
Article
Due to toxicity concerns, elevated levels of estrogens in the environment have attracted increasing interest in the development of efficient adsorbents for their removal. In this study, silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were biosynthesized using an orange extract for the simultaneous removal of estrone (E1) and 17β-estradiol (β-E2), where the removal e...
Article
Recently, estrogen has attracted widespread concern because it is increasing being detected in wastewater treatment plants. While techniques for estrogen removal have been reported, these have mostly focused on exploring the effect on removal using simple single-factor experiments, rather than applying more complex multifactor mathematical models t...
Article
Even a small concentration of estrogen released into the environment can cause great damage to the surrounding ecosystem, with potential teratogenic and carcinogenic hazards to many organisms. In this study, carbonized green synthesized Fe/Ni NPs, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 44.32 mg g⁻¹ coupled with over 98.3% removal efficiency, were us...
Article
The presence of residual antibiotics will lead to potential environmental risks. Here cyclodextrins (CDs) were successfully used to modify graphene-based iron nanoparticles ([email protected] NPs) to enhance the absorption of oxytetracycline hydrochloride (OTC). The removal of OTC decreased in the order: γ[email protected] NPs > β[email protected]...
Article
Wastewater from sewage treatment plants containing 17α-estradiol (αE2) has a high potential to cause environmental and human toxicity. Integration of adsorption and Fenton-like oxidation is one of the potential approaches to enhance αE2 removal. In this study, one-step biosynthesized iron nanoparticles/reduced graphene oxide (FeNPs/rGO) by tea extr...
Article
Full-text available
Interfacial solar steam generation is a green and sustainable technology which has been intensively studied in the fields of seawater desalination and wastewater purification for clean water production. Here, this technology is further developed for soil remediation. A new photothermal evaporator is designed to accelerate the extraction of lead (Pb...
Article
The widespread presence of 17β-estradiol (E2) in the environment is an emerging problem because it poses a potential threat to human health and aquatic organisms. In this study, a strain of E2 degrading bacteria was isolated from activated sludge. 16 s rRNA analysis combined with physiological and biochemical detection confirmed that the bacterium...
Article
Full-text available
Interfacial solar steam generation is an efficient water evaporation technology which has promising applications in desalination, sterilization, water purification and treatment. A common component of evaporator design is a thermal-insulation support placed between the photothermal evaporation surface and bulk water. This configuration, common in 2...
Article
Efficient methods for the removal of fluoroquinolone antibiotics from both surface and wastewaters are urgently required due to the significant global ecosystem disturbances elevated concentrations of such substances are causing. In this study, calcined magnetic iron nanoparticles (nFe) fabricated via a biosynthetic route were successfully used to...
Article
The use of biomass for the synthesis of value-added products, such as functional nanomaterial for the removal of contaminants, is a challenge. In this study, hybrid bimetallic Fe/Ni nanoparticles and reduced graphene supported bimetallic Fe/Ni nanoparticles (Fe/Ni-rGO) were prepared via a one-step green synthesis using green tea extract, and therea...
Article
While chemical methods are often used to convert graphene oxide (GO) to reduced graphene oxide (RGO), chemical reduction is often environmentally unfriendly due to the high toxicity of many chemical reducing agents. To address this limitation, Bacillus sphaericus was used here for the green reduction of GO to RGO. Successful reduction was confirmed...
Article
Wastewater generated during mining remains a significant source of antimony pollution, because techniques to quickly and efficiently remove antimony from wastewater do not exist. In this study, zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8), a specific type of Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs), was successfully used to remove trace levels (1 mg L⁻¹) of Sb(...
Article
Full-text available
Phytoremediation is an environment-friendly remediation technology, which has become widely accepted and is regarded as an easy and safe technique for removal of contaminants. Mercury (Hg) is one of the most toxic soil and water contaminants, which has not yet been widely treated via phytoremediation technology because Hg-accumulating plants were h...
Article
The annual influx of antimony (Sb) into the environment due to the widespread use of Sb compounds in industry and agriculture has become of global concern. Herein, a functional nanomaterial composite based on loading bimetallic iron/nickel nanoparticles on reduced graphene oxide (rGO-Fe/Ni) was initially prepared in a one-step phytogenic synthesis...
Article
Amitriptyline (AMI) is one of the most common tricyclic antidepressant personal care medications. Due to its environmental persistence and bioaccumulation, release of AMI into the environment via wastewater streams in elevated levels could lead to significant ecological and human health impacts. In this study, the adsorption of AMI by montmorilloni...
Article
The increasingly common remedial application of nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) to alleviate specific contaminant issues may inadvertently lead to nZVI accumulation in wastewater. This is a potential concern, because the effect of nZVI on the common microbes essential for wastewater biotreatment is not known. This is further complicated when ther...
Article
Solar steam generation offers a sustainable strategy to mitigate global clean water scarcity. To this end, 3D photothermal evaporators have attracted increasing research interest since they can significantly improve both evaporation rate and energy efficiency. However, compared to the 2D evaporators, the 3D ones consume more raw materials and occup...
Article
Dye-contaminated wastewater resulting from rapid industrialization and urbanization is a global problem. In this study, a [email protected]/Ni sample was synthesized for the removal of malachite green (MG), removing more than 99% of an initial MG concentration of 50 mg L⁻¹ within 120 min with a 318 K adsorption capacity of 151.520 mg g⁻¹. To unders...
Article
While Fe-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) can be used to remove antibiotics by adsorption, knowledge of how antibiotics are degraded by MOFs is still limited. In this study, one Fe-based MOF, NH2-MIL-88B was used to remove pefloxacin from aqueous solution via a combination of adsorption and Fenton-like oxidation. NH2-MIL-88B exhibited a high a...
Article
In recent years, the efflux of antibiotics into the environment has increased due to increased pharmaceutical usage worldwide. This has led to an urgent need for novel methods to sustainably treat wastewaters. In this study, mitoxantrone (MTX) was selected as representative contaminant antibiotic and a green tea extract was used to cleanly synthesi...