Heavy metal pollution and the role of inorganic nanomaterials in environmental remediation
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Royal Science Society
Abstract
Contamination of water and soil with toxic heavy metals is a major threat to human health. Although extensive work has
been performed on reporting heavy metal pollutions globally, there are limited review articles on addressing this pernicious
phenomenon. This paper reviews inorganic nanoparticles and provides a framework for their qualities required as good
nanoadsorbents for efficient removal of heavy metals from water. Different inorganic nanoparticles including metals,
metal oxides and metal sulfides nanoparticles have been applied as nanoadsorbents to successfully treat water with
high contaminations of heavy metals at concentrations greater than 100 mg l−1 , achieving high adsorption capacities
up to 3449 mg g−1 . It has been identified that the synthesis method, selectivity, stability, regeneration and reusability, and
adsorbent separation from solution are critical parameters in deciding on the quality of inorganic nanoadsorbents. Surface
functionalized nanoadsorbents were found to possess high selectivity and capacity for heavy metals removal from water
even at a very low adsorbent dosage of less than 2 g l−1, which makes them better than conventional adsorbents in
environmental remediation
Description
This article is Published Royal Science Society, 2021 and is also available at https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201485
Keywords
Citation
Royal Science Society