Remediation of Heavy Metal Ions Using Nanomaterials Sourced from Wastewaters

In the present scenario, the elimination of toxic heavy metal pollutants from wastewater effluents has emerged as a severe worldwide environmental issue. Due to the severe and recalcitrant nature of heavy metals, their accumulation occurs in the food web which seriously affects the life forms in the ecosystem and further degrades the environment. Recently, the advancement of nanotechnology has gained much attention towards remediation of heavy metals due to superior characteristics such as higher surface area/volume ratio, spatial confinement and reduced imperfections and resulted in an excellent immobilising capacity of heavy metals due to high reaction rate. This book chapter summarises an overview of variously advanced nanomaterials comprising carbon-, metal oxide (MO)-, zero-valent metal (ZVM)- and nanohybrid-based nanomaterials, and their applicability towards amelioration of heavy metals from wastewater effluents was investigated systematically. The advantages, disadvantages and efficiency of various nanomaterials were also correlated and studied. Additionally, this book chapter discusses future insights and directions for the betterment of nanomaterials concerning heavy metal remediation from wastewater with minimum environmental impacts.