Iron oxide nanomaterials for the removal of heavy metals and dyes from wastewater

Abstract

The leap-forward discovery of nanomaterials and their wide application in varying industries have attracted researchers to perform a further modification to these nanomaterials to improve their application. Iron-based nanomaterials stand out to be one of the highly efficient nanomaterials because of their vast availability and lower production cost compared to other nanomaterials. The production of these carbon-based nanomaterials is focused on utilizing widely available agricultural and nonagricultural biomass waste because of their lower cost and the production of efficient carbon-based nanomaterials. Iron-based nanomaterials found to have favorable properties such as high surface area, improved membrane properties, smaller particle size, and higher tensile strength. These iron-based nanomaterials are utilized for water and wastewater treatment because of their higher efficiency. The demand for clean water in this era of globalization has been increasing because of growth in the industry sector and in the worldwide population as well. Water treatment methods have been facing challenges to providing clean water because of the increase in operational cost, whereas iron-based nanomaterials provide an efficient alternative method for water treatment. This chapter reviews the application of different types of iron-based nanomaterials for water treatment.