A Comprehensive Review on Iron oxide and Iron oxide-based nanomaterials for Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

The growing need for water and the increase in the generation of wastewater globally demands efficient water treatment processes. Conventional water remediation efforts shortfall to cater to current water treatment requirements. Nanomaterial water remediation has shown promising results and needs to be explored at a greater scale to address these issues. Currently, iron oxide magnetic and superparamagnetic NPs and their composite nanomaterials received the most attention due to several useful properties and advantages such as high after-use recovery, targeted quality, and cost-effectiveness. Organic and inorganic pollutants are removed by iron oxide-based nanomaterials by various mechanisms. Furthermore, there are several nanocomposites used to enhance performance and introduce new and beneficial properties. These materials are created utilizing chemical, green/biological techniques. Various iron-based nanocomposites have shown synergistic properties for water remediation.  Various mechanisms of pollution removal such as adsorption, desorption, photocatalysis, and flocculation/coagulation targeted while designing NPs. Types of water pollutants, choice of remediation methods, and various methods required for QC and efficiency of these nanomaterials were reviewed.  The review discusses various methods of preparation of magnetic nanoparticles, their composite materials, the mechanism of pollutant removal, and recent applications exploring synergistic behavior for the removal of pollution for efficient water remediation.  Issues such as safety toxicity, removal after use, and disposal of these materials were also discussed.  The manuscript provides a quick overview of iron oxide nanomaterials as a reference for advancing further studies in the areas. It is planned to make contributions to the production bibliography regarding various aspects of iron-based nanomaterials for water and wastewater treatments.