Bionanomaterials for Heavy Metal Detoxification by Adsorption Mechanisms

The issue of heavy metal contamination of water resources is a serious environmental and social health problem, and it requires the establishment of effective and sustainable remediation technologies. Green adsorbents Bionanomaterials Engineered nanomaterials based on biological resources (plants, microbes, biopolymers, etc.), are promising as green adsorbents since they are biocompatible and non-toxic and exhibit excellent physicochemical capabilities. They have increased surface area, functional groups and structural versatility that allows them to adsorb toxic metals using electrostatic attraction, ion exchange, complexation, chelation and redox-mediated reactions. Recent developments show that bionanoadsorbents are better than the majority of traditional materials in adsorption capacity, selectivity and regeneration capability. Even with these benefits, there are still limitations with regard to obtaining consistent material synthesis as well as long-term stability, scalable production and consistent performance in complex industrial effluents. Moreover, loopholes still exist in mechanistic knowledge, lifecycle evaluation and field-scale implementation. The synthesis pathways, adsorption mechanisms, influencing factors, and regeneration strategies are critically assessed, and the emerging trends and research needs are brought out. On the whole, bionanomaterials are a promising and sustainable technology in the heavy metal detoxification and have great prospects in use in future in environmental and wastewater treatment.