Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 5.1 Current and potential applications of nanotechnology in water and wastewater treat-
ment (adapted from Qu et al.
2013
). Reproduced by permission of Elsevier
Representative
nanomaterials
Desirable nanomaterials
properties
Applications
Enabled technologies
Adsorption
Carbon
nanotubes
High specific area, highly
assessable adsorption sites,
diverse contaminant-CNT
interactions, tunable surface
chemistry, easy reuse
Contaminant
preconcentration/detec-
tion, adsorption of recal-
citrant contaminants
Nanoscale
metal oxide
High specific surface area, short
intraparticle diffusion distance,
more adsorption sites, com-
pressible without significant
surface area reduction, easy
reuse, some are
superparamagnetic
Adsorptive media filters,
slurry reactors
Nanofibers
with core-shell
structure
Tailored shell surface chemis-
try for selective adsorption,
reactive core for degradation,
short internal diffusion distance
Reactive nano-adsorbents
Membranes
and mem-
brane
processes
Nano-zeolites
Molecular sieve, hydrophilicity High-permeability thin-
film nanocomposite
membranes
Nano-Ag
Strong and wide-spectrum anti-
microbial activity, low toxicity
to humans
Anti-biofouling
membranes
Carbon
nanotubes
Antimicrobial activity
(unaligned carbon nanotubes)
Anti-biofouling
membranes
Small diameter, atomic
smoothness of inner surface,
tunable opening chemistry,
high mechanical and chemical
stability
Aligned carbon nanotube
membranes
Aquaporin
High permeability and
selectivity
Aquaporin membranes
Nano-TiO
2
Photocatalytic activity, hydro-
philicity, high chemical
stability
Reactive membranes,
high-performance thin-
film nanocomposite
membranes
Nano-
magnetite
Tunable surface chemistry,
superparamagnetic
Forward osmosis
Photocatalysis Nano-TiO
2
Photocatalytic activity in UV
and possibly visible light range,
low human toxicity, high sta-
bility, low cost
Photocatalytic reactors,
solar disinfection systems
Fullerene
derivatives
Photocatalytic activity in solar
spectrum, high selectivity
Photocatalytic reactors,
solar disinfection systems
(continued)
