Metal Oxide Polymer Nanocomposites in Water Treatments

Abstract

Recently, several pollutants such as dyes, pharmaceuticals and phenolic compounds, which can cause toxic effects to human health, have identified in water resources. Water pollution has extensively studied and several conventional techniques, such as chemical treatment, adsorption, biological treatment, and membrane-based separation, have adopted for pollutants removal from wastewater/ water resources. However, these techniques had led to the production of soluble refractory organic compounds and healththreatening bacteria that are hard to be removed. Recently, photocatalysis has considered as one of the most viable technology for water treatment using sunlight to eliminate harmful bacteria and pollutants owing to its cost-effectiveness and high efficiency. Metal oxide and polymers have become promising materials for water treatment owing to their properties, such as surface mobility, large surface area and superb magnetic and optical properties. This book chapter discusses recent design and synthesis of visible light response polymer/metal oxide nanocomposite through several synthetic strategies for water treatment. The results show that the polymer-metal oxide nanocomposite possesses a superior photodegradation activity toward pollutants under simulated visible light. Major challenges in polymer-metal oxide nanocomposite synthesis and future research perspectives for developing alternate synthesis methodologies are also discussed.

Preparation and Applications of Nanocomposite Membranes for Water/Wastewater Treatment

“…This technique contains a surface phenomenon where pollutants are deposited over the adsorbent surface. Ekstra energy, excess water, or additional chemicals are not used in adsorption process [26]. For the aforementioned reasons, the adsorption technique has become a unique phenomenon in removing contaminants from water/wastewater.…”

“…When the nanofibers are added to polymer matrix, in addition to the mechanical strength and thermal stability of polymer-based nanocomposites, its flexibility also increases [22][23][24][25]. Nanoparticles composed of metal or metal oxides, which contain Ag, Cu, TiO 2, and Fe 2 O 3 , are main examples of nanoparticles [26]. This nanoscale entity class of spherical shape demonstrates some superior properties such as increased lipophilicity and good dispersibility in organic solvent along with chemical stability.…”

“…The CNTs with 1D carbon-based tubular layers have often been used in wastewater treatment process. Because of some vital properties including hydrophobic surfaces and low surface energy besides spherical nanoscale such as Cu, TiO 2 , ZnO entities are often used as disinfectants or antimicrobial agents [26]. Very small spherical nanoscale entities such as nanofibers, nanoplatelets, or polymers can be grown at the surface of the substrate to obtain functional nanoscale structures for applications such as catalysis.…”

Green polymeric nanomaterials for the photocatalytic degradation of dyes: a review

“…Metal-incorporated nanomaterials display high efficacy for the photocatalytic degradation of azo dyes. This can be attributed to their pore size, chemistry of surface plane and ideal mechanical rigidity (Opoku et al 2017). The basics of photocatalytic degradation involve an electron transfer process coupled with a redox reaction.…”

Photoconductivity of Thin Films Obtained from a New Type of Polyindole

“…Materials based on conjugated electrically conductive polymers and inorganic substrates [ 11 ] are considered the most promising among the compounds used in this area. Various polyindoles, which can be responsible for optical conductivity, structural flexibility, and controlled electronic properties, are promising components for such materials [ 12 ]. The advantage of this series of polymers for optoelectronic applications is the presence of properties such as low energy optical transitions, extensive electrical conductivity, high electron affinity, and low ionization potentials [ 13 ].…”