Currently, a serious threat for living organisms and human life in particular, is water contamination with persistent organic and inorganic pollutants. To date, several techniques have been adopted to remove/treat organics and toxic contaminants. Adsorption is one of the most effective and economical methods for this purpose. Generally, porous materials are considered as appropriate adsorbents for water purification. Conventional adsorbents such as activated carbons have a limited possibility of surface modification (texture and functionality), and their adsorption capacity is difficult to control. Therefore, despite the significant progress achieved in the development of the systems for water remediation, there is still a need for novel adsorptive materials with tunable functional characteristics. This review addresses the new trends in the development of new adsorbent materials. Herein, modern carbon-based materials, such as graphene, oxidized carbon, carbon nanotubes, biomass-derived carbonaceous matrices—biochars as well as their composites with metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and MOF-derived highly-ordered carbons are considered as advanced adsorbents for removal of hazardous organics from drinking water, process water, and leachate. The review is focused on the preparation and modification of these next-generation carbon-based adsorbents and analysis of their adsorption performance including possible adsorption mechanisms. Simultaneously, some weak points of modern carbon-based adsorbents are analyzed as well as the routes to conquer them. For instance, for removal of large quantities of pollutants, the combination of adsorption and other methods, like sedimentation may be recommended. A number of efficient strategies for further enhancing the adsorption performance of the carbon-based adsorbents, in particular, integrating approaches and further rational functionalization, including composing these adsorbents (of two or even three types) can be recommended. The cost reduction and efficient regeneration must also be in the focus of future research endeavors. The targeted optimization of the discussed carbon-based adsorbents associated with detailed studies of the adsorption process, especially, for multicomponent adsorbate solution, will pave a bright avenue for efficient water remediation.

Zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO NRs) were modified by decorating with silver (Ag) nanoparticles to enhance visible absorption. The morphology, structure and optical properties of the modified ZnO NRs were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and UV–vis absorption spectroscopy. Photodetectors (PDs) based on the modified ZnO NRs successfully detected visible radiation. The result showed high performance of the visible sensor (λ = 400 nm) with a maximum responsivity of 46 mA W−1. The photoconductive gain of Ag/ZnO NR-based PDs was 5.8 times higher than that of pure ZnO NR ones. With their enhanced visible absorption, the multi-modified ZnO NRs are suitable for practical applications, especially in optoelectronic devices operating in the visible region.

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