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Global deterioration of water, soil, and atmosphere by the release of toxic chemicals from the ongoing anthropogenic activities is becoming a serious problem throughout the world. This poses numerous issues relevant to ecosystem and human health that intensify the application challenges of conventional treatment technologies. Therefore, this review sheds the light on the recent progresses in nanotechnology and its vital role to encompass the imperative demand to monitor and treat the emerging hazardous wastes with lower cost, less energy, as well as higher efficiency. Essentially, the key aspects of this account are to briefly outline the advantages of nanotechnology over conventional treatment technologies and to relevantly highlight the treatment applications of some nanomaterials (e.g., carbon-based nanoparticles, antibacterial nanoparticles, and metal oxide nanoparticles) in the following environments: (1) air (treatment of greenhouse gases, volatile organic compounds, and bioaerosols via adsorption, photocatalytic degradation, thermal decomposition, and air filtration processes), (2) soil (application of nanomaterials as amendment agents for phytoremediation processes and utilization of stabilizers to enhance their performance), and (3) water (removal of organic pollutants, heavy metals, pathogens through adsorption, membrane processes, photocatalysis, and disinfection processes).

SummaryFreely assembled palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) on titania (TiO2) nano photocatalysts were successfully synthesized through a photodeposition method using natural sunlight. This synthesized heterogeneous photocatalyst (Pd/TiO2) was characterized through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), BET surface area, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-DRS), Raman and photoluminescence (PL) analyses. The simple and smart synthesis anchored well the deposition with controlled Pd NPs size ranging between 17 and 29 nm onto the surface of TiO2. Thus, it gives the characteristic for Pd NPs to absorb light in the visible region obtained through localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPRs). Apparently, the photocatalytic activity of the prepared photocatalysts was evaluated by degrading the endocrine disrupting compound (EDC) amoxicillin (AMX) excited under an artificial visible light source. In the preliminary run, almost complete degradation (97.5%) was achieved in 5 h with 0.5 wt % Pd loading and the degradation followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The reusability trend proved the photostability of the prepared photocatalysts. Hence, the study provides a new insight about the modification of TiO2 with noble metals in order to enhance the absorption in the visible-light region for superior photocatalytic performance.

were investigated using the composite of Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and graphene oxide (GO) deposited over TiO 2 nanotube arrays (TNTs). The resulting TNTs in the composite showed 100% anatase phase with no occurrence of the rutile phase. An implicit microscopic and spectroscopic technique (FESEM, HRTEM, FTIR and Raman analysis) confirmed the presence of Ag NPs and GO in the composite photocatalyst. It also exhibited an evident shift of the absorption edge in the visible range. The successful depositions of Ag contributed to improved photocatalytic activity in the visible spectrum owing to the existence of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), and further the deposition of GO minimized the recombination of electron-hole pairs. The photocatalytic degradation of both MB and 2-CP followed pseudo-second order kinetics. In the primary run, both MB and 2-CP exhibited almost similar degradation efficiency of 68.3 and 66.8%, respectively. The reusability studies showed a deprived performance for MB degradation than that of 2-CP, due to chemisorption of MB. The prepared composite exhibited significantly larger enhancement in the photocatalytic oxidation of pollutants with greater electrons mobility to reactive sites of GO and Ag. 03 7967 5318; Tel: +60 03 7967 7678 † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: FTIR spectra of GO-Ag-TNTs before and aer the adsorption of MB, photocatalytic degradation kinetic parameters and kinetic plots of rst order and second order. SeeFig. 7 (a) Photoluminescence spectra of TNTs, Ag-TNTs and GO-Ag-TNTs. Core level XPS spectra of (b) Ti 2p (c) Ag 3d and (d) C 1s of GO-Ag-TNTs.This journal is

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