Degradation of Pesticides Residue by Engineered Nanomaterials

The extensively used pesticides have severely impacted on environment in view of their toxicity and persistence. Among them, organochlorines are highly toxic with half-lives of many years followed by organophosphates. Being banned in many countries, most of pesticides are still persisting into the environment. Traditional methods are not enough for removal of those structurally stable and naturally persistent toxicants. Sustainable technologies based on engineered nanomaterials have better treatment efficiency credited to enhanced multidimensional properties including surface functionalization and porosity, specific targeting capabilities, increased surface-area, and catalysis. Further, improvisation in engineered nanomaterials for potential adsorption of pollutants could be achieved by application of organic ligands, enzyme immobilization, inorganic moieties and surface polymerization.