Adsorption of thallium from wastewater using disparate nano-based materials: A systematic review

Abstract Development of promising technologies to remove thallium as a highly poisonous contaminant is of great attention to guarantee the sustainable supplement of safe potable water and human well-being all around the world. Recently, adsorption has been introduced as a noteworthy technique to remove trace amount of thallium. In the past, the rate of thallium removal using the adsorption technique was relatively low due to the fact that this method was significantly influenced by the co-existing cations. To overcome this problem, more promising adsorbents such as nano-based materials have been developed. These adsorbents have shown great potential in the process of thallium removal due to their large surface area and superior selectivity. The main objective of this paper is to present a state-of-the-art review about the potential of nano-based form of disparate materials (i.e., titanium compounds, MnO2, ZnO, Al2O3 and multiwall carbon nanotubes) to separate thallium from water/waste water sources. Then, a systematic overview about acute/chronic toxicities of thallium for humans is aimed to be provided. Throughout the review, the authors aim to compare the negative and positive aspects of each treatment technique and offer promising technologies for thallium removal. At the end, an outlook on the recent advancements in the adsorption process of thallium using nanomaterials is provided.