Recent Advances in Nanomaterials for Wastewater Treatment

TLDR: In this paper, the use of semiconducting nanoparticles for wastewater treatment is discussed, and the role of nanomaterials in adsorption techniques (specifically, carbon-based nanoadsorbents) is discussed in detail.

Abstract: Developing an efficient wastewater treatment technique is one of the major necessities of the twenty-first century, owing to the scarcity of water resources. Besides, it is of paramount important to find appropriate methodologies to economically treat wastewater. Recent advances in nanotechnology have attracted the attention of many researchers for wastewater treatment. The major advantages of such nanomaterial-based systems are that they can be reused and have been found to be very effective. Though many research works have been reported in this regard, there is very limited collective information. Hence, the major objective of this work is to describe recent achievements in nanomaterial-based systems for wastewater treatment. This chapter critically reviews and lists the uses of nanomaterials in wastewater treatment. This comprises the utilization of semiconducting nanoparticles either alone or combined with ozonation, the Fenton process, or sonolysis for effective degradation/removal of organic pollutants. Furthermore, the effectiveness of nanotechnology in antimicrobial activity to produce pure water via an eco-friendly route is discussed. Similarly, the role of nanomaterials in adsorption techniques (specifically, carbon-based nanoadsorbents) to remove heavy metal contamination from industrial wastewater is also discussed in detail.