The Role of Nanomaterials in Wastewater Treatment

With rapid urbanization and industrialization in developing countries, water scarcity will become the prime concern for the human race to sustain in the future. According to WHO report in 2014, 50% of the global population will be living in water-stressed areas by 2025. As the various sectors include domestic, agriculture, industry, and energy demands the supply of clean water, it is imperative to research current water treatment strategies. With the existing technologies on wastewater treatment, it is highly challenging to keep pace with the growing demand for pollutant-free water. Hence, innovative, cost-effective, and sustainable water treatment strategies need to be developed immediately to ensure the water supply. One such advancement in water technologies is the use of nanomaterials as these exhibit great potential in improving the performance and efficiency of water decontamination. Owing to the larger specific surface area and enhanced surface reactivity, nanomaterials might supplement the conventional technologies. . Such nanomaterials may be nano-photocatalyst, nanomotors, nano-membranes, and nano-adsorbents. A tailor-made functionalization approach enables them to show unique electrical, catalytic, magnetic, and mechanical features that are highly desirable for water nanotechnology. Several research reports have shown that these nanomaterials were efficient, cost-effective, and ecologically safe with unique morphological and structural properties, which enable them to be used as an ideal sorbent to clean up the polluted water. With such high attention given to these nanomaterials in water treatment technologies, this chapter provides a wide report on the innovation in synthesis, tailor-made functionalization, and their mechanisms in the removal of various pollutants.