Nanomaterials: Solutions to Water-Concomitant Challenges

Abstract

Plenty of fresh water resources are still inaccessible for human use. Calamities such as pollution, climate change, and global warming pose serious threats to the fresh water system. Although many naturally and synthetically grown materials have been taken up to resolve these issues, there is still plenty of room for enhancements in technology and material perspectives to maximize resources and to minimize harm. Considering the challenges related to the purification of water, materials in the form of nanofiber membranes and nanomaterials have made tremendous contributions to water purification and filtration. Nanofiber membranes made of synthetic polymer nanofibers, ceramic membranes etc., metal oxides in various morphologies, and carbonaceous materials were explored in relation to waste removal from water. In this review, we have discussed a few key materials that have shown effectiveness in removing pollutants from waste water, enabling solutions to existing problems in obtaining clean drinking water.

Multilayered Bio-Based Electrospun Membranes: A Potential Porous Media for Filtration Applications

“…An ISI Web of Science literature search revealed that several review articles have been published on the development of single-layered electrospun membranes for filtration applications (Suja et al, 2017;Zhu et al, 2017;Nabeela Nasreen et al, 2019). However, these studies neither focus on state-ofart multilayered membranes nor on bio-based electrospun membranes.…”

Core‐shell nanofibers for developing self‐healing materials: Recent progress and future directions

“…The current paper aims to review the recent researches and advances on the fabrication of self‐healing materials using core‐shell fibers, in the range of 100 to 2000 nm, contacting healing agents. It would be worthy to note that the electrospinning technique is known as the easiest and most economical method for preparation of the nanofibers, which confirms a potential structure of the materials for the wide range of applications such as tissue engineering, 12 filtration applications, 13 improvements of the composite's mechanical properties, 14–17 and so on. Several parameters control the electrospinning process and affect the quality of the nanofibers and their characteristics, such as diameter and porosity.…”

Fabrication and characterization of high flux poly(vinylidene fluoride) electrospun nanofibrous membrane using amphiphilic polyethylene‐block‐poly(ethylene glycol) copolymer

“…In particular, polymer nanofibers have been widely used in a broad range of applications in the fields of protective clothing, nanocomposites, filtration, catalysis, artificial organ components, tissue engineering, drug delivery, wound dressing, vascular grafts, and medical textile materials 9,10 . In the last decade, there have been strong research activities in exploring the benefits of electrospun nanofibrous membranes (ENMs) in separation technology with new and exciting applications being revealed and realized 11–25 . This is because ENMs can overcome the flux limitations of conventional polymeric and ceramic membranes.…”

“…9,10 In the last decade, there have been strong research activities in exploring the benefits of electrospun nanofibrous membranes (ENMs) in separation technology with new and exciting applications being revealed and realized. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] This is because ENMs can overcome the flux limitations of conventional polymeric and ceramic membranes. When compared to the latter membranes, ENMs generally possess higher porosity (80%-95%), lower base weight, larger effective surface area and continuously interconnected pores.…”