Effective removal of hazardous pollutants from water and deactivation of water-borne pathogens using multifunctional synthetic adsorbent materials: A review

The hazardous contaminants/pollutants such as toxic metal ions and dyes are major cause to toxicity of water since the industrial developments have been come into consideration, and these pollutants make an adverse effect on aquatic life and immobilize the enzymes in plants. Therefore, this problem must be mitigated as an alarming environmental threat and lead to various hazardous diseases in human being. In addition, number of waterborne pathogenic bacteria also cause infectious diseases. Many methods have been developed to remove these contaminants and unwanted microbes. Adsorptive removal of water pollutants and microbial disinfection through various materials (adsorbents) are presented in this study as a review. The multifunctional adsorbent materials included in this study, showed outstanding results for adsorptive capacity and disinfection rates against bacteria. Moreover, they possess many other required necessities including cost effective, environmentally friendly, green synthesis, easily operated, energy efficient and multifunctional applications. This study addresses the multifunctional features of adsorbent materials, i.e. adsorptive removal of water pollutants (toxic metal ions and dyes) and disinfection of waterborne bacteria. The key focus of this study is to discuss the technologies which are adopted to prepare these adsorbent materials, their response for adsorption capacity and antimicrobial activity. This study also provides the brief overview of adsorption working concepts such as isotherms, effecting parameters, kinetics and thermodynamics of adsorption process. Additionally, it explores the future challenges and barriers associated to these adsorbents.