Emerging carbon-based nanocomposites for the removal of hazardous materials

Abstract

Even though water covers 75% of the earth's surface, only 0.0067% of it is available for human use. These figures continue to deteriorate as the world's population grows, resulting in an increase in the amount of waste created every year. Worldwide, the desire for clean and safe water has always been a major concern. The pursuit of efficient materials for environmental remediation is a critical scientific and technological concern. Carbon-based materials (CBM) have unique electrical, mechanical, and physicochemical properties, making them ideal for use as environmental adsorbents, sensors, membranes, and catalysts. Basically, CBM includes activated carbon, carbon nanofibre, biochar, carbon aerogel, graphene, carbon nanotubes, and so on. These materials can easily be engineered and functionalized, depending on the chemical nature of the target contaminants, and shows great efficiency towards the removal of hazardous materials. Carbon-based nanocomposites (CBNC) play a vital role in water treatment and environmental remediation due to their higher adsorption capacity, improved permeation, porous nature, and selectivity towards pollutants. This book chapter discusses the effective employment of CBNCs, including their future prospects in the field of water purification for the removal of textile dyes, volatile organic substances, toxic metals, oil, and biological contaminants.