Master 2 Internship : Eutectogels for the selective capture of organic pollutants from water – ICGM, Montpellier (26/10/2025)

Ensuring access to clean water is one of the main objectives of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Nowadays, organic pollutants (including dyes, phthalates, PFAS, etc.) originating from everyday household or industrial activities, are increasingly detected in aquatic environments. Even at low concentrations, these species can persist through conventional treatment and pose significant ecological and human-health risks. There is a strong need for sustainable materials capable of selectively capture such pollutants. Among traditional adsorbent materials (zeolites, silica matrices, polymer membranes, hydrogels, …), eutectogels have emerged as a promising new class of materials for decontamination of aqueous medium. Eutectogels are gel networks formed by deep eutectic solvents (DES), low melting point mixtures of hydrogenbond donor and acceptor molecules (derived from e.g., amino acids, natural oils, organic salts, lignin, etc.). They offer high specific surface area, tunable hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance, and robust physico-chemical and mechanical stability under harsh conditions (pH, salinity, temperature), making them strong candidates for selective capture of organic pollutants. Initially developed for biomedical and electronic applications, eutectogels are still in the early-stage of pollutant removal materials. The principal goal of this internship is to synthesize and characterize a library of eutectogels, modulating their physico-chemical properties in respect with the targeted contaminants, and to establish structure–property correlation for a wide plateau of pollutants.

Publié le 26/10/2025