Polydopamine-Based Surface Modification of Chlorella Microspheres for Multiple Environmental Applications.

Towards addressing water pollution issues, the development of multifunctional chlorella with applications ranging from sensing pollutants to heavy metal and oil removal is described. The use of chlorella cells, which are widely abundant natural structures, leads to simple and low-cost mass production of effective functional materials. Bioinspired surface modification approaches mediated by polydopamine can endow chlorella with enhanced adsorption capacity for heavy metals, as well as superhydrophobic, fluorescence and magnetic properties according to the desired application. The resulting chlorella exhibits excellent heavy metal and oil removal ability, while magnetic propulsion and guidance allow directional motion over long distances for implementation in situ removal. Moreover, it is further demonstrated that chlorella can be used as a biosensor to detect metal ions by taking advantage of the fluorescence properties of carbon dots. Such use of chlorella provides a new way for the large-scale production of functional materials to tackle water pollution.