Nanomaterials as a cutting edge in the removal of toxic contaminants from water

In the past several decades, the development of industries and agricultural techniques have contributed majorly to the contamination of water. A drastic increase of heavy metals, dyes, inorganic, organic, and bio-contaminants in surface, ground, and seawater has become a severe concern among the environmentalists and scientific community for the health and safety of living beings. According to the latest survey of WHO, by the year 2025, 50% of freshwater in the world will become contaminated due to its high demand in every industrial sector. So, in order to remove these toxic contaminants, scientists are emphasizing on the development of modern, sus-tainable, and technologically advanced techniques for the treatment of contaminated water. The use of nano -materials for this purpose is one such promising application due to their high surface area, high surface capacity, electrical, magnetic, physiochemical, and catalytic features, ease of functionalization, and cost-effectiveness. As a result, nanomaterials are being exploited in multidisciplinary research like adsorption, photocatalytic degrada-tion, and membrane filtration for the removal of heavy metals, organic/inorganic dyes, oil spills, etc. Recently, various studies have been focusing on these nanomaterials as a potential alternative for the treatment of pol-lutants from wastewater. This review compiles the studies of different nanomaterials along with their synthesis processes, applications, and effect of modification and functionalization of nanomaterials on certain key prop-erties such as adsorption capacity, surface area, and pH range. Effects of various factors such as ionic strength affecting metal ions, adsorbent dosage, contact time, temperature, initial ion concentration, and pH are also explained in this review.