Bioresource Technology 320 (2021) 124394

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Bioresource Technology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biortech

Emerging nano-structured innovative materials as adsorbents in

wastewater treatment
Sivasubramanian Manikandan b, Natchimuthu Karmegam c, Ramasamy Subbaiya d,
Guruviah Karthiga Devi b, Ramaswamy Arulvel b, Balasubramani Ravindran e,
Mukesh Kumar Awasthi a, *
a
College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Taicheng Road 3#, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
b
Department of Biotechnology, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (SIMATS), Saveetha Nagar, Thandalam, Chennai
602 105, Tamil Nadu, India
c
Department of Botany, Government Arts College (Autonomous), Salem 636 007, Tamil Nadu, India
d
Department of Biological Sciences, School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, The Copperbelt University, Riverside, Jambo Drive, P O Box 21692, Kitwe, Zambia
e
Department of Environmental Energy and Engineering, Kyonggi University, Youngtong – Gu, Suwon 16227, South Korea

H I G H L I G H T S G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T

• Nanotechnology is the most innovative

method suitable for wastewater
treatment.
• By adsorption, carbon-nanomaterials
eliminate organic and inorganic
pollutants.
• Nanoparticles are low-cost adsorbents
for radionuclides and heavy metals.
• Nanomaterials serve as excellent anti­
microbials in wastewater treatment.

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Water supply around the globe is struggling to meet the rapidly increasing demand by the population, drastic changes
Adsorbents in climate and degrading water quality. Even though, many large-scale methods are employed for wastewater
Carbon nanotubes treatment they display several negative impacts owing to the presence of pollutants. Technological innovation is
Heavy metals
required for integrated water management with different groups of nanomaterials for the removal of toxic metal ions,
Nanomaterials
microbial disease, organic and inorganic solutes. The method of manipulating atoms on a nanoscale is nanotech­
Sewage
nology. Nanomembranes are used in nanotechnology to soften water and eliminate physical, chemical and biological
pollutants. The present review concentrates on various nanotechnological approaches in wastewater remedy,
mechanisms involved to promote implementation, benefits and limitations in comparison with current processes,
properties, barriers and commercialization research needs. Also the review identifies opportunities for further
exploiting the exclusive features for green water management by following the advances in nanotechnology.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mukesh_awasthi45@yahoo.com (M. Kumar Awasthi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124394
Received 4 October 2020; Received in revised form 31 October 2020; Accepted 5 November 2020
Available online 10 November 2020
0960-8524/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Manikandan et al.
1. Introduction
For all life on earth, water is the most important material and a vital
resource for human civilization (Morrison et al., 2020; Rubilar et al.,
2020). Trustworthy access to safe and available water is one of the
fundamental priorities for the 21st century and remains a significant
challenge world-wide. Nevertheless, supply of safe potable water has,
because of significant water contamination, become a global concern
today (Acharya et al., 2020; Ponce-Rodríguez et al., 2020). The United
Nations has reported that more people have died from any sort of
violence including war, aggression, destruction, and mortality, although
more people have died from tainted water relative to war and violence
(WHO/UNICEF, 2000). Regarding the imminent global water crisis,
Nature highlights in its website that “things in the world are becoming
worse and more than one trillion people lack access to clean water
(Edokpayi et al., 2020; Jiang et al., 2019). The estimated supply of water
per person over the next two decades is down by one third, likely leading
to premature deaths for many millions of people (Rieu-Clarke et al.,
2015).
Organic, inorganic and biological water pollutants originating from
different sources can be present (Cheng et al., 2020; Haq et al., 2020; Li
et al., 2020; Mandeep et al., 2020; Yu et al., 2020b). Some chemicals are
harmful and carcinogenic and cause harm to humans and ecosystems
(Rahman, 2020). Recent studies reveal that the contamination and
toxicity of microplastics in marine water leading to their existence in
marine salts of human use (Sivagami et al., 2020). At the same time, the
heavy metals are notorious highly toxic water contaminants (Liu et al.,
2020a; 2020be, 2020cf, 2020bg, 2020ch; Wu et al., 2020a). Arsenic is
one of the most lethal components, well-known from the old days.
Certain heavy metals of extremely hazardous water contaminants
include cadmium, chromium, arsenic, plum, zinc, nickel, copper, etc.,
and their remediation is becoming complicated due to the complexity of
contaminants (Leong and Chang, 2020; Qi et al., 2015; Rahman, 2020;
Sajid et al., 2018). At high concentrations, chromates, NO3–, SO2− 3
4 , PO ,
2−
F , Cl , Se and oxalates have hazardous consequences; ions of these
− −
also modify the smell of mud. For example, fluorosis is caused by
enhanced levels of fluoride in the water (Nasr et al., 2013; Udhayakumar
et al., 2016). Toxicity is associated with various types of contaminants,
including those of chemical fertilizers, different forms of pesticides,
plasticisers, petrochemical products, phenols and biphenyls, detergents,
oils and greases (Terrado et al., 2010; Xing et al., 2020; Yang et al.,
2020). In freshwater environments worldwide, pharmaceutical products
and personal care products (PPCPs) are prevalent and are regarded as
pollutants of significance. Currently, their persistence, bioaccumulation
and toxicity levels as pollutants are concerned. PPCPs are not classified
as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), whereas PPCPs have charac­
teristic similar to POPs (Li et al., 2018; Sharma et al., 2019). Drugs and
veterinary medicinal products for the prevention or treatment of human
and animal disease are known as prescription, while PCP (personnel-
care products) is primarily used to improve everyday living standards. In
recent years, the involuntary presence of PPCPs in different aquatic
compartments (such as water, sediments and biota) in amounts that can
have adverse effects on aquatic organisms has become common. This is a
major concern because PPCPs are increasingly commonly used, resulting
in their continuous release into the environment, in human and veteri­
nary medical devices. The concentration of PPCP concentration in water
ranges from mg/L up to μg/L. For this reason, customary water treat­
ment processes provide substandard results, since the processing pro­
visions are ill-prepared to eliminate stable low-levels of pollutants. The
emerging organic contaminants, PPCPs, antibiotic resistance genes, ni­
trogen, steroids and pesticides are increasing at an alarming rate which
poses the scientific community to develop suitable and feasible alternate
methods (Asif et al., 2018; Chen et al., 2020b; García et al., 2020; Sun
et al., 2019).
Nanotechnology’s recent success provides leapfrogging incentives to
build water supply networks of the next decade. The present water
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Bioresource Technology 320 (2021) 124394
treatment systems have no more sustainability, distribution and disposal
methods, which depend heavily on transport and central systems (Jiang
et al., 2013). The nanotechnology-capable processes are highly efficient,
modular, and multifunctional, which provide affordable solutions for
water treatment and wastewater treatment that depend the least on key
infrastructures (Deshpande et al., 2020; Olvera et al., 2017; Wong et al.,
2019). The water and wastewater treatment processing system with
nanotechnology promises not only to solve major challenges with cur­
rent therapies but also to deliver a new therapy capability which could
enable emerging water sources to be used efficiently and increase water
supply which has been schematically explained in Fig. 1.
Here is a summary of recent developments in water and wastewater
treatment nanotechnologies. Large nanomaterial technologies are
objectively studied on the basis of their unit activity functions. The
challenges to their systematic implementation and the need for work to
address these challenges are also addressed. This analysis will not take
into account the potential consequence of nano-based materials on the
environment and public health or any possible disturbance in treatment
processes and will therefore not be explored in depth (De La Cueva
Bueno et al., 2017; Kamali et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2019). Several
nanomaterial types which could be used in water rehabilitation are
mentioned, such as zeolites, polymer and metal nanoparticles, and
Carbon-based nanomaterials (CbN) (Madannejad et al., 2019; Vedha­
nayagam et al., 2019), mesoporous supporting self-assembled mono­
layers (SAMMS) (Yantasee et al., 2004), biopolymers, iron nanoparts
and nanoscale photo catalysts in semiconductors. Many nano­
technological pathways have so far been developed for wastewater
treatment. Within the following broad categories, among the most
commonly used techniques can be classified:
a. Nanotechnology focused on adsorption of waste and toxic materials.
b. Technology focused on nanomembranes for wastewater treatment.
c. Technology based on antimicrobial nanomaterials to destroy path­
ogens in treated water.
d. Nano-catalyst-based photocatalysis is a very promising approach for
the treatment of polluted water.
e. Sensing and control equipment for wastewater treatment.
The various types of water treatment approaches have been dis­
cussed in the following sections of the review paper. A brief overview of
the existing problems in the use of nano-based technologies and their
potential risks has been provided.
2. Existing and future uses for treating sewage and wastewater
Nanomaterials are generally classified in a minimum of one dimen­
sion as materials smaller than 100 nm (Chhabra and Kumar, 2020;
2019). Products at this scale also possess different dimension-dependent
properties, many of which were studied in the treatment of wastewater
and water. Many devices use the smoothly scalable nanomaterial
properties of larger surface areas, including rapid disintegration, heavy
sorption and high reactivity. Other benefits of their discontinuous
properties have been superparamagnetism, localised plasmoplasm res­
onation, and quantum containment.
Four main groups can be considered to be the most widely used
nanomaterials:
a. Carbon-dependent nano-adsorbents in wastewater treatment.
b. Metal-based nano-adsorbents in wastewater treatment.
c. Polymer-based nano-adsorbents in wastewater treatment.
d. Zeolites: Zeolites and its composites in wastewater treatment.
Each of these groups of nano-adsorbents are discussed in the
following section briefly.
S. Manikandan et al.
2.1. Organic waste replacement of carbon nano-adsorbents
Adsorption is widely used as a finishing step in the treatment of
water and wastewater to eliminate pollutants of organic and inorganic
nature (Kadam et al., 2019; Kalaitzidou et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020a).
Conventional adsorbents typically have a weakness in their effectiveness
by the surface or active sites, inadequacy of selectivity and adsorption
kinetics. With its exceptionally accurate surface and associated sorption
sites, fast intra-particle diffusion distance and pore size and surface
chemical tuning, nano-sorbents give substantial improvement (Gallo-
Cordova et al., 2020; Kgatitsoe et al., 2019; Moharrami and Motamedi,
2020; Nouri et al., 2020).
Nanomaterials have suitable surface modification scopes. Organic
ligands allow the binding of metal ions with that of nanomaterials or any
other specific contaminants from water. A large number of Nano
structuring resources for use with adsorption of pollutants have been
reported in the literature for use in wastewater treatment. Checked for
the removal of metal ions and water teeth molecules from modified
carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide and nanocomposite Graphene-Fe3O4
(Raghu et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2018). The core nanoparticles from
Fe3O4 / C, amino and hydroxyl gel, many silica-based adsorbents have
been identified, such as SBA-15 amino-functionalized (Betiha et al.,
2020; Fiorilli et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2018), magnetic mesoporous
silica (Jaafar et al., 2019), mesoporous multiamine grafting silica,
amino-functionalized silica and synthetic gel loops, amino-
functionalized, EDTA-functional, mesoporous silica nanoparticles, and
silica gel for effective heavy metal ion adsorption from water. Magnetic
nanoparticles and their composition are also the perfect absorbers of
water pollutants (organic and inorganic). It can be easily separated by a
simple adsorption bar magnet, which helps you to resolve other
adsorbents.
2.2. Nanoparticles for heavy metal ions removal
The oxidized carbon nanotubes are highly adsorbed to high kinetic
metal ions. Carbon nanotube surfaces are the most important functional
surfaces (e.g. carboxyl, hydroxyl and phenol) predominantly through
electrostatic appeal and chemical bonding. Significantly, it increases the
potential of carbon nanotubes adsorption through surface oxidation
Fig. 1. Wastewater treatment based on nanotechnology.
3
Bioresource Technology 320 (2021) 124394
(Adelabu et al., 2020; Hayati et al., 2017). Several studies have shown
better adsorbtion of heavy metals with carbon nanotubes than activated
carbon (for example Pb2+, Cu2+, Zn2+ and Cd2+, for example); the ki­
netics of adsorption on carbon nanotubes are rapid because of the
extremely accessible sites for adsorption and the close range between
intraparticles (Chandrashekhar Nayak et al., 2020; Liu et al., 2020c;
Verma and Balomajumder, 2020).
Generally, carbon nanotubes as broad spectrum adsorbents might
not be a right choice with reference to the activated carbon. These may
also have unique applications for polishing measures in order to elimi­
nate recalcitrant compounds or organic contaminants in trace for
analytical grounds, as the surface chemistry could possibly be tailored
towards different contaminants. Limited amounts of materials are
required for these applications and therefore are less prone to costs.
Among the adsorbents, graphite oxide is cheap alternative which is
developed from exfoliating graphite with strong acids and oxidizers
(Avetta et al., 2015). It has been recently stated that graphite oxide-
coated sand granules were effective in Hg2+ removal and a bulky
Rhodamine B (colouration molecule).
2.3. Nanoparticles as cheap adsorbents for radionuclides and toxic heavy
metals
Surface oxidized carbon nanotubes with H2O2, KMnO4 and HNO3 are
used to extract Cd2+ from aquatic solutions (Slobodian et al., 2013). The
elevated adsorption capabilities towards the ions of metals consisting
quicker kinetics may result from the oxidation of carbon nanotubes.
Oxidized carbon nanotubes surfaces contain functional groups including
carboxylic, hydroxyl and carbonyl acid. Such groups have strong heavy
metal ions adsorption potential as long as the pH of oxidized carbon
nanotubes is above the isoelectric level. Several studies have shown that
the carbon nanotubes adsorb heavy metal ions with very strong nano­
materials, including Pb2+, Cu2+, Zn2+ and Cd2+ (Abukhadra et al., 2019;
Hayati et al., 2017; 2016;; Xu et al., 2018). A carbon nanotube sponge
with a boron dash showed a very good water oil adsorbing ability. Such
sponges are reusable once oil is drained and pledge to prevent oil spills
for oil recovery.
S. Manikandan et al.
3. Nano membranes and membrane systems for treatment of
wastewater
Water treatment is mainly aimed at eliminating undesired compo­
nents from water. Regardless of their thickness, the membranes form a
physical obstacle to new sources of water to these constituents. These
offer a considerable degree of automation which requires reduced land
area in which the chemical intake is the major part of water treatment
and reuse and a modular design allows for scalable design. The intrinsic
jeopardize between the selectivity and permeability of membranes is a
major problem in membrane technology. A main obstacle to the broad
utilization of pressurized processes with membranes is the consumption
of lots of energy. The fouling of membrane increases the energy con­
sumption, process design and operation complexity. This in turn reduces
the life of membranes and membrane modules. The membrane material
is the sole factor which determines the performance of the systems to a
greater extent. An excellent opportunity to improve membrane perme­
ability, fouling resistance, mechanical and thermal stability is offered by
the incorporation of functional nanomaterials as membranes (Lu and
Astruc, 2020; Rassoulinejad-Mousavi et al., 2020; Rehman et al., 2020).
According to the mode of porosity, structure and application,
membranes are classified into different forms, such as nano-filtration
membranes (Ang et al., 2020; Himstedt et al., 2019; Nawaz et al.,
2021), nanocomposite membranes (Alammar et al., 2020; Moharrami
and Motamedi, 2020; Salazar et al., 2020; Valamohammadi et al., 2020),
self-assembly membranes (Chen et al., 2020a; Liu et al., 2019; Wu et al.,
2020b; Xiao et al., 2020), thin film composites (Karami et al., 2020;
Mollahosseini and Abdelrasoul, 2019), aquaporin-based membranes
(Balkenov et al., 2020; Li et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2020a; 2020b),
biological membranes (Saleh et al., 2020; Tang et al., 2018), and reverse
osmosis membranes (Couto et al., 2020; Vinardell et al., 2020; Wu et al.,
2020a). They are divisible into several forms of membranes. The prep­
aration and application of wastewater treatment of various forms of
membranes are dealt in the following section. Nanofiltration is a pres­
surized process in which unclean water flows through a thin polymers
containing pores 1 to 10 nm in length, separating the contaminants
larger than the pores from the water. Dissolving of dissolved solids,
organic matter and water versatile cations by nanofiltration is benefi­
cial. Nanofiltration membrane is used most frequently for suppressing
water, because Ca and Mg ions have been captured, while monovalent
ions can pass through the water in a hydrated way. Nano filtration
membranes are used in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries for
solvent recovery. They are also used for purification of gas condensates
in petrochemical industries. For the extraction of amino acids and lipids
from cell cultures in the field of life sciences, the nanofiltration mem­
branes are highly useful (Esteves et al., 2020). The nano membranes and
their optimistic characteristics have been detailed in Table 1.
Various techniques have been developed to produce and modify the
Table 1
List of nano-membranes of their optimistic characteristics and approaches.
Nano- Characteristics
membranes
Optimistic Negotiary
Nano-composite Improve hydrophobicity, thermal Resistant bulk material needed to
membranes / mechanical stability and fouling release potential Nanoparticles while
resistance using oxidizing nanomaterial
Nano-filtration Repulsion dependent on load, low Blocking of membrane (polarization of
membranes relative pressure and high the concentration)
selectivity
Aquaporin based Permeability and high ionic Mechanical impairment
membranes resistance
Nano self- Membranes designed to fit, Accessible in small amounts
assembly homogenous nanopores (laboratory scale)
membranes
Nano-fiber High efficiency of permeability, Nanofibers may be released, pore
membranes customized, bactericidal and blocking possible
porous
4
Bioresource Technology 320 (2021) 124394
surface of filtration membranes (Werner et al., 2018). A thin, composite
nano-filtered membrane film was deployed by Yang and his colleagues
on an ultra-filtration substrict through an interlayer of polydopamine
polyethyleneeminic deposition (Yang et al., 2017). Such membranes
show that Na2SO4 is eliminated by 97% and Na2SO4 salt rejection order
by MgSO4 and MgCl2.NaCl.
It is very useful to extract ions like Na, K and reverse osmosis (RO)
chloride. Consequently, it is considered extensive applications in marine
desalination. In the last several decades considerable efforts were made
to develop cheap membrane filtration technologies with high efficiency
for desalination. Most industrial RO membranes in use are thin film
composite structures in which the polyamide layer on top of the
microporous support membrane is shielded. The selectivity of perme­
ation is controlled efficiently by the polyamide films. However, the ef­
ficiency of their membrane fouling decreases over time due to organic
matter accumulation and pores in microbes. Chlorine-assisted oxidative
degradation often also degrades membranes (Wang et al., 2020c). In
addition, the most common practice is to modify the membrane through
grafting / covering it by using suitable functional groups to overcome
these problems (Nadizadeh and Mahdavi, 2021).
The inclusion of nano-composite materials into the production of
new membrane materials has also been reported (Al-Najar et al., 2020).
Graphene oxide (GO) has been shown to be a two-functional protective
cap to increase both anti-fouling membrane and resistance against
chlorine, whilst retaining its efficiency in separation. In recent years,
much emphasis has been put on the use of functional carbon nanotubes
in Composite RO membranes. A very interesting study shows that the
flow of water and the salt rejection can be greatly improved through the
incorporation of the polyamide membrane as zwitterion-friendly nano­
tubes. The polyamide-RO membranes have functional carbon nanotubes
for higher water streams. Furthermore, the carbon nanotubes loaded
membranes were more robust and chemically resistant when compared
with plain membranes. The advantages of using composite membranes
can be due to the hydrophobic nanotubes, which are formed from uni­
form interactions between the carbon nanotubes and polyamide within
active levels via the nanotubes of carbon and their membrane homo­
geneity. Biochar adsorption technology in wastewater treatment is
currently being steadily introduced (Chen et al., 2011; Jung and Ahn,
2016; Yao et al., 2019; Zubair et al., 2020). Biochar is known to adsorb
standard animal wastewater pollutants such as organic pollutants, heavy
metals, nitrogen and phosphorus (Xiang et al., 2020; Zhuang et al.,
2020; Zubair et al., 2020). However, nano-composites based on bio-char
in wastewater remediation is found to be effective (Tan et al., 2016;
Yang et al., 2019) and much attention is required for the efficient utility
of such nanocomposites.
Mixed-matrix reverse osmosis membranes, commercially available,
are used where polyamide film-embedded super hydrophilic nano­
particles are used for the repulsion of microorganisms, solutes and
Approaches Water treatment Nanomembranes
thickness
Extremely complex conditions, 4.1 to 49.8 μm2 (Wen et al., 2019)
such as micro-pollutant
elimination and reverse osmosis
Heavy metals reduction, odour, Zeolite membranes (thickness ≈ 3 µm) (
colour and hardness Pendergast and Hoek, 2011)
Desalination under low pressure Aquaporin Flat-Sheet Membrane
(thickness ~110 μm) (Xia et al., 2017)
Phase of ultra filtration ~ 40 μm thick (Feng et al., 2019)
Stand alone filter, ultra filtration, PUR10 is mere 6 μm, nylon 6 nanofiber/
cartilage filters, Water filtering, cellulose 205 μm (Fauzi et al., 2020;
prefiltration Jiříček et al., 2017)
S. Manikandan et al.
impurities. Nanosilver and titanium dioxide coating are normally used
on composite RO membranes for the prevention of fouling of organic
pollutants by oxidative degradation. Membrane modifications have
been recently developed with biomolecules, such as protein, to boost
selectivity. Copolymer block membranes that are self-assembling were
also tested for ultra-filtration and found to be more selective and
permeable. The use of polymer nanofibers and electro-spinning ceramics
is another significant class of membranes. The high water flow in
nanofiber-based membranes is imparted via an optimized thickness of
the polymers’ membrane. The bio nanofiber membranes are also
designed to achieve a higher antipollination property for polylactic acid,
polyurethane and polyethylene oxide. There are considered to be greater
selectivity and higher water flow in biomimetic membranes. The
aquaporin inside this membrane is greatly efficient in desalination of the
marine water, for example, the polymer-built vesicle-supporting
aquaporin-based Nano filtering membrane.
3.1. Nanofiber diaphragms in wastewater treatment
The processing of ultra-finely nanofibres with different materials (e.
g. polymers, ceramics or meme metals) is simpler, effective, and cheaper
than the other metallic and composite nanomaterials in wastewater
treatment. It produces highly unique porosities and nanosurfaces
forming matte, porous structured nanofibers. Electro spun nanofibers
can be easily tailored to particular applications by diameter, composi­
tion, secondary structure, morphology and spatial alignment. While
nanofiber membranes are used on the market for air filters, their water
treatment capacity remains largely untapped. Nanofiber membranes are
able to extract particles of micron size from the watery process at a high
reject rate without significant failure. Therefore, before ultrafiltration or
reverse osmosis (RO), pre-treatment is recommended.
Functional nanomaterials can easily be doped into the spinning so­
lutions for the manufacture or on-site creation of nanoparticles. The
exceptional features and adjustable characteristics create electrofiber an
ideal medium for the construction of multifunctional media / membrane
filters by means of inherent materials like TiO2 and MgO with multiple
functions (Pourrahim et al., 2020) or using nanofibers with their func­
tional materials. The integrated nanomaterials made up of ceramics or
unique captive materials into a nanofiber, for instance, allowing the
removal of heavy metals and organic contaminants in the course of
filtration can be carried out by affinity nanofiber (Park et al., 2020).
3.2. Biologically based membranes and thin film nanocomposite
The selectivity and permeability of biological membranes are very
high, and the protein channels in Aquaporins are the controlling factors
of cell membrane water flow, and they play a vital role in contaminant
removal (Chang et al., 2019; Luo et al., 2018). Its high selectivity and
water permeability make an appealing approach to improving mem­
brane efficiency in polymer membranes. The Escherichia coli aquaporin Z
when introduced to the amphiphilic triblock water permeability
Table 2
List of polymers and biopolymers for their solubility, hydrophobicity, stable mechanics and chemical stability.
Polymers and bio- Molecular weight (g/ Hydrophilicity and
polymers mol) hydrophobicity
Propionate and cellulose 1811.7 Hydrophobic
acetate
Polyacrylonitrile 53.0626 ± 0.0028 Hydrophobic
PSF/PVP 1600–5170/2,500 – Hydrophilic
2,500,000
Polysulfone 442.52 Hydrophobic
SPS/PES 110,000–141,000/ Hydrophilic
232.26
Bioresource Technology 320 (2021) 124394
polymer vesicles over the initial vesicles with minimum glucose, glyc­
erol, salt, and urea rejection at least in an order of magnitudes. One of
the future designs is to coat the lipid bilayers embedded in aquaporin on
industrial Nano filtration membranes. The list of polymers and bio­
polymers for their solubility, hydrophobicity, stable mechanics and
chemical stability is given in Table 2.
The atomic sweetening design of the nano-sized channel and a single-
file ordering of molecules of water via the nanotubes have shown that
aligned carbon nanotubes provide water permeation much quicker than
the Hagene Poiseuille Equation predicted. It was expected to have fluxes
above existing commercial RO marine membranes in a membrane con­
taining just 0.03 percent surface area of associated carbon nanotubes.
However, because of the lack of carbon nanotubes with a uniformly sub-
nanometer diameter, high refusal of salt or smaller molecules is difficult
for aligned carbon nanotubes membranes. In order to boost selectivity of
aligning carbon nanotubes membranes, functional group gating on the
opening nanotube was proposed. The ninety eight percent rejection of Fe
(CN6)3− was achieved with low ionic strength by Donnan exclusion, by
grafting carboxyl functional groups with a carbon nanotubes substratum
of 2 nm. KCl rejection at 0.3 mm, however, decreased to nearly null at
10 mM, was just 50 percent. Salt can physically be removed by grabbing
bulky functional groups on the tube opening. Yet steric exclusion de­
creases permeability considerably. Therefore, compatible carbon nano­
tubes membranes cannot be desalinated at the current level. The
diameter of the carbon nanotubes needs to be consistently <0.8 nm to
achieve effective salt rejection.
The nanomaterial development in large scale and membrane devel­
opment is a significant hurdle for aquaporin and aligned carbon nano­
tubes membranes. Aquaporin’s are very demanding in large-scale
processing and purification. Currently the most usual method to create
aligned nanotubes is chemical vapour deposition (CVD) (Abdullah et al.,
2020; Maruyama et al., 2020). A CVD prototype with high-performance
has been developed for the production of carbon nanotubes in vertical
alignment that paves the route for the scale-up production. A magnetic
field alignment system was also developed for post-manufacturing. The
membranes of nanocomposites and TFNs are highly versatile can be
produced from existing industrial production processes. The high degree
permeability of water can reduce the pressures or the required surface of
the membrane. This technique could significantly increase the energy
efficiency of low osmosis pressure water treatment. Nonetheless, it may
have a minimal gain in RO seawater, which already has a thermody­
namic cap energy consumption. A recent study evaluated existing
nanotechnology membranes based on their future performance
improvement and market readiness.
4. Disinfection and microbial prevention nanotechnology
The challenge for the water industry is to deal with this problem
between efficient disinfection and toxic disinfection by products (DBPs)
(Mazhar et al., 2020; Srivastav et al., 2020; Tang et al., 2020). Con­
ventional disinfectants like chloride and ozone are now well known to
Solubility Steady mechanics Chemical stability
In ink solvents (benzene, Strong point of fusion Stable interface
toluene, etc.)
In Weniger polar solvents Strong tolerance to Has excellent chemical
temperature and power stability
Highly soluble in water Obtained good mechanical Strong water miscibility
stability
Soluble in organic solvents Obtained good mechanical Compaction resistance and
for example DMF stability high strength
Resistance to chemicals Strong tolerance to Has excellent chemical
temperature and power stability
5
S. Manikandan et al.
form toxic DBP (i.e. halogenated by products of the disinfection, cancer-
infective nitrosamines, bromate, etc.), they are widely recognized. As an
alternative to oxidative disinfection, UV disinfection has grown as a
minimum in DBPs. Such limitations promote the creation of substituting
methods to enhance the disinfection robustness while preventing the
formulation of DBP.
Nanomaterials are also less likely to induce DBPs without heavy
oxidation, such as silver, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, carbon nano­
tubes, cerium oxide, and fullerenes. This review article gives careful
consideration to the antimicrobial methods of these nanomaterials, their
advantages, disadvantages, usefulness and important research re­
quirements for water treatment (Kidd et al., 2020; Rienzie et al., 2020;
Sagir et al., 2020; Verma et al., 2020).
The optimal disinfectant has the following properties,
• Highly high ambient temperatures antimicrobial activity in short
time (Zhang et al., 2021);
• During and after use of harmful sub-products cannot be produced
(Hossain et al., 2014);
• may not impact the wellbeing of humans (Mazhar et al., 2020);
• For the intended usage apply inexpensively and easily (Hossain et al.,
2014);
• Simple to transport, highly water soluble and not corrosive for any
appliance or surface (Deshmukh et al., 2019);
• Convenient for safe disposal (Mazhar et al., 2020).
Nanomaterials have antimicrobial properties that have lower pro­
pensity to form DBPs without major oxidation.
4.1. Mechanisms of nanoparticles based antimicrobial agents and possible
uses in water treatment
Researchers have been paying great attention to nanoparticles and
nanocomposites because of their unique features, including high
contaminant adsorption power, excellent photocatalytic and antimi­
crobial activity. Nanoparticles disable microbial pathogens by present­
ing wide variety of antimicrobial mechanisms. Nanoparticles also
extract inorganic and organic pollutants from wastewater and demon­
strate their potential application in the management of wastewater. A
Table 3
List of Nano-based antimicrobial agents and possible uses in water treatment.
Various sources of pollutants contaminating water resources
Municipal pollution: (Water treatment (some of the sewage is not
properly handled or handled), Storm drains, Septic tanks (home
sewage), Vessels that discharge sewage, Yard runoff (fertiliser and
herbicide waste).
Industrial pollution: Radioactive contaminants from nuclear power
plants and medical and scientific sources, Heavy metals, organic
contaminants, oils and solids in industrial waste, Pollutants, such as
sulphur, fossil fuel combustion, oil and other petroleum products
from super-tank spills and offshore drilling incidents, Heated water
with chemical residues from industrial operations, such as power
stations.
Agricultural pollution: Grain, livestock and poultry farming discharges
pollutants such as fertilizers, pesticides and animal waste into local
waterways.
Medical waste pollutants: During health care activities.
Bioresource Technology 320 (2021) 124394
list of nano-based antimicrobial agents and potential uses for water
treatment has been elaborated in Table 3.
Titanium dioxide is an extremely common nanoparticle type in
potable water, surface water, drinking water and other water resources
to inactive microbes. Titanium dioxide’s antibacterial function is due to
the generation of reactive oxygen species. The created ROS can kill the
cytoplasmic membrane, damage protein and DNA, release of dangerous
ions, interrupt the flow of electrons, and interfere with respiratory
functioning. High UV-A absorbance of titanium dioxide activation by
solar radiation, substantially increasing solar disinfection. Solar disin­
fection based on titanium dioxide is a very sluggish method which can
be a low proportion of UV-A in sunlight. Flourishing works in doping
with metals or nitrogen is crucial for application of Titanium dioxide
solar disinfection to enhance visible light absorption of Titanium dioxide
or UV-A (Gao et al., 2019; Hassan et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2020b).
Titanium dioxide nanomaterial also demonstrated bacterial death in the
dark, suggesting the possibility of certain unknown mechanisms.
Since ancient times, Silver is known for its antimicrobial influence.
The use of silver nanoparticles in medical services and external medicine
is diverse in the industrial applications. Silver nanoparticles have been
used as an antifungal nanomaterial in recent years. The substance they
use to decontaminate water is the following: effective and wide-ranging
antimicrobial activity, health and manufacturing (Albukhari et al.,
2019; Kumar et al., 2020; Metreveli et al., 2020; Najafpoor et al., 2020;
Sherin et al., 2020). Through water binding to − SH groups, the Nano
silver absorbs ions from silver into and destroys essential enzymes. Sil­
ver nanoparticle toxicity depends on the rate of silver ion discharge. The
shape, size, padding and crystallographic facets affect silver ion release.
The presence of omnipresent ligands increases their bioavailability and
their toxicity. Silver nanoparticles have been used as a shield for path­
ogens in ceramic micro filters that can be used in developing countries.
Because of the high UV absorption ability and transparentness to
visible light, Zinc oxide nanoparticles were used in sunscreen lotions,
paints and coatings. Zinc oxide nanoparticles show excellent antibac­
terial activity in a wide range of bacteria. Nevertheless, because the
researchers have obtained opposite findings, for instance, the antibac­
terial function of Zinc oxide nanoparticles has not been apparent. The
explanation has been suggested for the photocatalytic production of
H2O2 for antimicrobial Zinc oxide action. While nanoparticles of Zinc
Nanomaterials based Pathogens (targeted microorganisms)
antimicrobial agents
Chitosan nanoparticles Active against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria (Yu et al.,
2020a)
Bimetallic silver and copper Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Escherichia coli (Gram
nanoparticles negative) (Merugu et al., 2020)
Titanium di-oxide (TiO2) Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis (Gram-positive),
nanoparticles Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumonia (Gram- negative),
Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger (Fungi) (Punitha et al., 2020)
PEI-coated PLA nanoparticles Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica (Gram negative); Listeria
monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram positive) (Niza et al.,
2020)
Peptide-functionalized Staphylococcus sp. (Gram positive) (Ding et al., 2020)
magnetic nanoparticles (AMP-
MNPs)
Cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli (Gram-negative);
nanoparticles Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus (Gram-positive) (Gheidari et al.,
2020)
Zinc oxide (ZnO) Alternaria alternata, Sclerotium rolfsii and Stemphylium solani (Fungi);
nanoparticles Escherichia coli (Gram-negative) (Perveen et al., 2020)
6
S. Manikandan et al.
oxide and Zn2+ display antibacterial activity, water organisms may be
very vulnerable to dissolved zinc (Kyeong Hee et al., 2019; Mirgane
et al., 2020; Shkir et al., 2020; Sultana et al., 2020). Due to the ease of its
dissolution, zinc oxide nanoparticles are limited in the treatment of
drinking water.
4.2. Sensing and tracking nanotechnologies in water treatment
A large number of sensors based on nanotechnology were used to
detect various biological and chemical species in the area. Nano-sensors
are also used for trace contaminants and to control the rates of microbial
and bacterial infections in wastewater treatment (Liu et al., 2020a;
2020b; 2020c; Ramezani et al., 2020). From a protection point of view,
it is extremely important to sense and track these in-water toxic entities
(Abubaker et al., 2019; Graboski et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2020a). This
is a very difficult and exciting field of research because very specific
techniques are needed in order to detect minute amounts of inorganic,
biological and organic pollutants in the water.
The detection of pathogenic microbes in water bodies is an important
step in order to ensure proper public health. In order to take adequate
control steps, the identification of contaminating organisms is also
important. Conventional markers of pathogens were not extremely
successful and certain lethal viruses, bacteria and minerals have not
been detected. New sensing and tracking technologies based on nano-
materials have also started to develop over the last 10 years. World­
wide researchers have made enormous efforts to synthesize highly
effective pathogen detecting nanostructured materials. Generally,
nanomaterial-based pathogens are functionalized to enable selective
identification of targeting entities using appropriate molecules, such as
carbohydrates, aptamers, antimicrobial peptides and antibodies. With
their particular electrical, magnetic properties, people have been sen­
sitive to microbial cells and other biomolecules found in water which
has been sensitive to these materials. Nanomaterials such as carbon
nanotubes, quantum dots, magnetic nanoparticles, dye doped and noble
metals have been thoroughly investigated for pathogens identification.
Quantum dots have a high sensing ability since their optical properties
can be easily targeted.
The level of microbial contamination in water can easily be identi­
fied by tracking changes in the fluorescent spectrum or the phenol-
electrochemical activity of quantum dots when communicating with
pathogens and biomolecules. The identification in wastewater of
different pathogens is mostly achieved using quantum dots including
titanium dioxide, ZnO, cadmium selenide, ZnSO4 and MgO. Proteins,
antibodies and other biomolecules are found to be useful in altering their
surfaces to improve the sensitiveness and selectivity of sensors based
with quantum dots.
Gold nanoparticles are commonly used for detection purposes
significantly because of the resonance effect of surface plasmon
depending on their size and shape. For instance, high sensitivity bacteria
(E. coli) are reported for the cysteine-functionalized gold nanoparticles.
Functional silica fluorescent color nanoparticles were also used for
sensing applications; carbon nanotubes have adequate room for elec­
trochemical pathogens, thanks to their high conductivity, quick surface
shift and excellent adsorption capabilities. A biologically responsive
object (for example, proteins, cell receptors, enzymes, antibodies, oli­
goes or polynucleotides, microorganisms, or even entire biological tis­
sues) and a transducer are required to turn the measurement
concentration into other observable signals, sound variants, currents,
absorbance and masses. Owing to the high sensitivity and photo sta­
bility, nano-sensors are beneficial but specificity in most current nano-
sensors is a challenge.
5. Conclusions
The potential nanotechnology with unique properties is the perfect
candidate for fast technology growth. Different groups of nanomaterials
7
Bioresource Technology 320 (2021) 124394
– metal nanoparticles, carbonic nanomaterials, zeolites and dendrimers
can effectively be used to extract toxic metal ions, microbial, organic
and inorganic solutes from water. Recovered contaminants and depleted
nano-partners remain largely unexplored in risk assessment. Ecological
waste management methods are therefore needed to prevent toxicity
hazards. The future in water processing for nanoparticles is very
promising, but a joint effort by academic, natural development projects
and industrial resources is required for quick, economic and useful
equipment for water treatment to be realized.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
The authors are thankful to The Management of Saveetha School of
Engineering (SIMATS), Chennai, India and The Management, Vice-
Chancellor, Dean and Head of Biological Sciences, The Copperbelt
University, Kitwe, Zambia for their constant support to complete the
review article. The Shaanxi Introduced Talent Research Funding
(A279021901), China and The Introduction of Talent Research Start-up
fund (No. Z101021904), College of Natural Resources and Environment,
Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi Province 712100, China.
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