MINI REVIEW

published: 24 December 2021

doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2021.793765

Nanoremediation: Nanomaterials and

Nanotechnologies for Environmental
Cleanup
M. L. Del Prado-Audelo 1, I. García Kerdan 1, L. Escutia-Guadarrama 2, J. M. Reyna-González 1,
J. J. Magaña 1,3* and G. Leyva-Gómez 4*
1
Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Campus Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico,
2
Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico,
3
Laboratorio de Medicina Genómica, Departamento de Genómica, Instituto Nacional de Rehabilitación Luis Guillermo Ibarra
Ibarra, Ciudad de México, Mexico, 4Departamento de Farmacia, Facultad de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México, Ciudad de México, Mexico

Different global events such as industrial development and the population increment have
triggered the presence and persistence of several organic and inorganic contaminants,
Edited by:
representing a risk for the environment and human health. Consequently, the search and
Fabián Fernández-Luqueño, application of novel technologies for alleviating the challenge of environmental pollution are
Center for Research and Advanced urgent. Nanotechnology is an emerging science that could be employed in different fields.
Studies of the National Polytechnic
Institute Saltillo Unit, Mexico In particular, Nanoremediation is a promising strategy defined as the engineered materials
Reviewed by: employed to clean up the environment, is an effective, rapid, and efficient technology to
Arpita Roy, deal with persistent compounds such as pesticides, chlorinated solvents, halogenated
Sharda University, India
Vineet Kumar,
chemicals, or heavy metals. Furthermore, nanoremediation is a sustainable alternative to
Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, India eliminate emerging pollutants such as pharmaceutics or personal care products. Due to
*Correspondence:
the variety of nanomaterials and their versatility, they could be employed in water, soil, or air
G. Leyva-Gómez media. This review provides an overview of the application of nanomaterials for media
[email protected] remediation. It analyzes the state of the art of different nanomaterials such as metal,
J. J. Magaña
[email protected] carbon, polymer, and silica employed for water, soil, and air remediation.
Keywords: nanoremediation, nanomaterials, bioremediation, nanotechnology, environmental ecotoxicity
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to
Toxicology, Pollution and the
Environment, INTRODUCTION
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Environmental Science Contaminated water, soil, and air represent a critical world problem involving extreme
Received: 12 October 2021 environmental and human health risks. Several developed techniques for remediation include
Accepted: 30 November 2021 conventional methods such as thermal treatment, pump-and-treat, chemical oxidation, and
Published: 24 December 2021 emerging technologies such as “nanoremediation” (Ganie et al., 2021; Mukhopadhyay et al.,
Citation: 2021). Nanoremediation uses engineered nanomaterials to clean up polluted media, and this
Del Prado-Audelo ML, García Kerdan I, technique is less costly and more effective than most typical methods.
Escutia-Guadarrama L, In addition to its cost-effectiveness, the interest in applying nanomaterials for environmental
Reyna-González JM, Magaña JJ and remediation relies on the nanostructure’s characteristics. Nanoparticles (NPs) present sensitivity,
Leyva-Gómez G (2021)
high surface-area to mass ratio, exceptional electronic properties, and catalytic behavior (Corsi et al.,
Nanoremediation: Nanomaterials and
Nanotechnologies for
2018). Catalysis and chemical reduction can be regarded as the primary mechanisms for remediation
Environmental Cleanup. by NPs. Moreover, NPs have been employed in the removal process based on adsorption because
Front. Environ. Sci. 9:793765. NPs present a random distribution of active sites in their high surface area and a wide possibility of
doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2021.793765 coating modifications (Guerra et al., 2018). In addition, NPs can diffuse in small spaces, enhancing

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Del Prado-Audelo et al. Nanomaterials for Environment Cleanup

FIGURE 1 | Different types of nanomaterials are employed for nanoremediation.

their application in soil and water remediation. Also, membranes concerns environmental researchers due to the extreme risks
based on nanomaterials have been used in water nanofiltration that it represents to different ecosystems (Schweitzer and Noblet
(NF) since the membrane pores potentially retain big 2018). Water sources are susceptible to pollution by many ions,
components in water effluents. Moreover, the interaction with heavy metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, radioactive
the membrane selectively separates the more minor compounds. materials, as well as emerging pollutants such as pharmaceutics
Nanomaterials employed for water, soil, and air remediation and personal care products (Jadhav et al., 2015; Zamora-Ledezma
include metal oxides, carbon nanotubes, quantum dots, and et al., 2021).
biopolymers. In this context, research and development of efficient
This review aims to discuss the applications of different types methods for water remediation are imperative. In recent
of nanomaterials in the context of water, soil, and air treatment, years, different technologies based on nanomaterials have
presenting current studies and approaches related to been employed in the remediation of water due to their
nanotechnology application for environmental remediation. properties, including the selectivity to certain pollutants and
their absorption capacity (Table 1). The predominant
nanomaterials employed in water remediation are metallic
NANOREMEDIATION OF WATER nanoparticles, biopolymeric membranes, and carbon-derived
materials (Saikia et al., 2019).
Over the last decade, the study of nanomaterials for application in
water and wastewater treatment has been widely spread Metal and Metal-Based Nanomaterials
(Figure 1). As clean water is fundamental for living organisms Several types of metal oxide nanoparticles such as iron oxide
to sustain life, contaminated groundwater is a problem that (Fe2O3/Fe3O4), zinc oxide (ZnO), and titanium dioxide (TiO2)

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Del Prado-Audelo et al. Nanomaterials for Environment Cleanup

TABLE 1 | Advantages of Nanomaterials employed in media remediation.

Type of Remediation mechanism Media Advantages Limitations/Risks

nanomaterial

Metal-based Adsorption; oxidation; reduction; Soil, • High specific surface area • NPs can have adverse effects on pure
photodegradation, photocatalysis water cultures of bacteria
• Removal of diverse pollutants (chlorinated • Research of the risks in human and
organic solvents, polychlorinated biphenyls, environmental health is missing
organochlorine pesticides)
• Compatibility with other treatments —
Carbon-based Adsorption Soil, • High surface area • Different cell toxicity effects (Reactive
water, air oxygen species production, lysosomal and
DNA damage)
• Microporosity • Rapid saturation
• Sorption properties • High cost
• Eco-friendly nature —
• Compatibility with other treatments —
Polymer-based Nanofiltration Water • Employment of polymer derived from waste • Denaturation by extreme temperature
materials
• Compatibility with other treatments • Performance depends on pH
Silica-based Catalysis; adsorption Air, water • Versatility on surface modification • Scattered size distribution
• Adaptable pore size —
• Compatibility with other treatments —

are utilized for water purification due to their high reactivity, pharmaceutical products. For instance, a study evaluated the
photolytic characteristics as well as adsorbent properties derived adsorption of hexavalent chromium by MWCNTs in
from their massive surface area and affinity to different chemical contaminated groundwater (Mpouras et al., 2021). The
groups (Aragaw et al., 2021). For instance, iron nanoparticles authors analyzed the adsorption efficiency effect of parameters
have been employed to treat dyes in wastewater from textile, such as pH and adsorbent concentration. Their results suggested
paint, and paper industries due to their stability in suspension that at pH values higher than 7, the adsorption decreased.
medium and high adsorption capacity. In recent years, these NPs MWCNTs have also been applied in water gasoline removal
have been highly efficient in the adsorption of dyes such as methyl projects (Lico et al., 2019). Due to the great environmental
orange and methylene blue, two of the most utilized dyes in concern that represents fluoride, different alternatives based on
industry, which present the most inharmonious effects on the carbon have been employed to achieve deflouridation of
environment and human health (Mashkoor and Nasar 2020). In wastewater. In this context, there are reports of the fluoride
this context, the methyl orange and phenol removal efficiency of removal capacity of chemical and bio-reduced graphene oxide,
magnetic iron oxide NPs in combination with carbon has been exposing that the first one presented an 87% of reduction;
examined, revealing that the nanocomposites present stronger meanwhile, the bio-reduced presented 94% of capacity (Roy
interactions with the dye, being the carbon concentration a et al., 2017). Similarly, activated carbon has been widely
decisive parameter in the NPs adsorbent behavior (Istratie explored in removing pharmaceutical products due to their
et al., 2019). Besides dyes, heavy metals like chromium (VI) low cost, large pore size, and high porosity. For instance, the
are another critical type of pollutants in water. Current researches comparison of carbamazepine and sildenafil citrate adsorption
suggested that the environmental risk by chromium (VI) could be onto powdered activated carbon and granular activated carbon
lessened by the presence of iron oxide or zero-valent iron NPs and was reported in 2019 (Delgado et al., 2019). The results revealed
organic acids (such as citric acid) (Yang et al., 2017; Zhou et al., that approximately 90% of the compounds were removed in 10 h
2018). Titanium dioxide NPs are widely employed as using powdered activated carbon, whereas the granular activated
photocatalyst for micropollutants removal in water, and it is carbon achieved just 40% of removal after 70 h, which is related to
an effective alternative for emerging contaminants such as the greater surface area of the powdered. Likewise, the evaluation
pharmaceutics (Mahmoud et al., 2017). of caffeine, ibuprofen, and triclosan adsorption employing
powdered activated carbon was reported, observing an
Carbon-Based Nanomaterials important effect of pH (Kaur et al., 2018).
Nanoporous carbon-based materials such as activated carbons,
carbon nanotubes (CNTs), including multi-walled nanotubes Polymer-Based Nanomaterials
(MWCNTs) and single-walled nanotubes (SWCNTs), and Different alternatives based on polymer nanotechnology could be
graphene and its oxide, present physicochemical characteristics employed in water treatment, such as nanoparticles,
that make them suitable for water treatment operations to remove nanocomposites, or NF membranes (Abdelbasir and Shalan
contaminants like heavy metals, fluorides, textile dyes or 2019; Bassyouni et al., 2019). Particularly, polymeric

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Del Prado-Audelo et al. Nanomaterials for Environment Cleanup

nanomembranes are employed to eliminate unwanted biphenyls, and organochlorine pesticides through oxidation-
nanoparticles in the aqueous phase by detouring particles in reduction transformation strategies sequestration (Stefaniuk
the membrane pores and by the chemical interaction between the et al., 2016). nZVI has also been shown to be effective in the
pollutants and the membranes, provoking the pollutant’s remediation of trichloroethene, hexavalent chromium, nitrate,
immobilization. In this context, chitosan is a widely employed lead, cadmium, and DDT with high cleaning percentages (Guerra
polymer for NF membranes elaboration based on facile et al., 2018). There are different nZVI synthesis methods such as
manufacturing techniques such as solvent casting. These carbothermal reduction, ultrasound-assisted, electrochemical,
membranes are a strategy to clean textile wastewater (Long and green synthesis. Although nZVI possesses reactivity as a
et al., 2020), revealing a lower rejection to electroneutral and reducing agent, it lacks agglomeration dispersion stability,
negatively charged dyes than the positively charged. However, the difficulty separating it from the remediated soil, and limited
dyes’ physical size also plays a key role in NF efficiency (Weng mobility. Modifications to the surface are a technological
et al., 2017). The stability and effectiveness of these nanofiltration option to preserve its function, and the most frequent
membranes could be enhanced using the membranes as matrix or strategies include mixing with other noble metals in the form
support to other types of materials, constituting a composite. of an alloy such as Pd, Pt, Ag, Cu, and Ni. Other strategies include
Recently, synthetic and natural polymers such as polyamide, coating the surface with biopolymers like starch, carboxymethyl
cellulose, and chitosan have been employed as membrane cellulose, guar gum, or synthetic polymers like poly (ethylene
matrices and modified by different components such as glycol). While the incorporation of nZVI on the surface of
triethanolamine, metal oxide nanoparticles, and carbon supports such as silica, activated carbon, zeolites, or polymer
nanotubes (Yan et al., 2016; Lakhotia et al., 2018). For membranes facilitates the separation of the nanomaterial from
example, it has been reported that by employing carboxylated the purified soil. Additionally, nZVI can be immobilized utilizing
MWCNTs in polyamide membranes, an increment in salt a “trapping” strategy in emulsions or dispersions of particles in
rejection rate can be observed, which is very useful to remove biopolymers such as calcium alginate, chitosan, and gum arabic.
the industrial salts from textile effluents (Al-Hobaib et al., 2017). Other metal-based nanomaterials include applying SiO2, Al2O3,
In addition, polyethersulfone membranes functionalized with TiO2, iron phosphate, goethite, and magnetic nanoparticles
MWCNTs, graphene, or other polymers exhibited excellent (Stefaniuk et al., 2016).
heavy metals and dyes rejection in aqueous media (Vatsha
et al., 2014; Ma et al., 2017; Peydayesh et al., 2020). Carbon-Based Nanomaterials
Carbonaceous nanomaterials exhibit unique characteristics such
as large surface area, high microporosity, excellent sorption
NANOREMEDIATION OF SOIL capacities, and eco-friendly nature. Some architectures
embrace fullerene C60, fullerene C540, SWCNTs, MWCNTs,
The settlement of Homo sapiens during the transition from graphene, and activated carbon nanoparticles (Matos et al.,
hunter-gatherer to farmer resulted in an irreversible impact on 2017; Marcon et al., 2021). Moreover, activation or
nature. The dominance of the wheat business, first as a form of functionalization of carbon-based nanomaterials represents
subsistence, later as a style of economic exchange, had additional advantages as in other environmental remediation
consequences in the disappearance of animal species, plants, applications. Recently, there has been a greater preference for
diversion of river courses, and soil erosion and contamination. CNTs because they offer greater adsorption capacity than
Subsequently, the appearance and increase of industrialization graphene, graphene oxides, biochar, and granular activated
and excessive urbanization have accelerated the deterioration and carbon. The adsorption is determined by the exposure area
contamination of soil (Kumar et al., 2021). Recently, the use of and functional groups on the surface, such as -COOH and
nanomaterials for the remediation of soil has been attractive due -OH. The adsorption capacity can be increased by coupling
to its high reactivity, high surface-to-volume ratio, surface functional groups such as -NH2, -SH, oxidation processes,
functionalization, and modification of physical properties such nonmagnetic metal oxide coating, and grafting of magnetic
as size, morphology, porosity, and chemical composition. The set iron oxides. The increase in surface area, high surface-to-
of these properties allows the selectivity and efficiency in the volume ratio, and therefore its high reactivity favor
capture of pollutants. The intercalation of nanoparticles in the flocculation and decrease its properties for nanoremediation.
soil allows the cleaning of extensive areas and reduces costs and The use of the surfactant poloxamer 407 has allowed an
time due to the application in situ. Nanoremediation for soil adequate stabilization of multi-walls carbon nanotubes (Matos
contamination has predominated with metallic and magnetic et al., 2017). CNTs can remove heavy metal ions such as Pb2+,
nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, and nanoscale zero-valent Cu2+, Ni2+, and ZN2+; however, the immobilization of heavy
iron (Mukhopadhyay et al., 2021). metals depends on pH, organic matter content, and the presence
of silt and clay particles. CNTs can also remediate the soil of total
Metal and Metal-Based Nanomaterials petroleum hydrocarbons, crude oil, Cr (VI), Cd, DDT,
Nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) is an electron donor with a hexachlorocyclohexane, increasing the microbial population
negative reduction potential. The use of nZVI is one of the most and plant growth (Shan et al., 2015). CNTs application
frequent in pilot trials (Cheng et al., 2021) because it allows the techniques comprise their incorporation into membrane
removal of chlorinated organic solvents, polychlorinated filtration, separation columns, and an aqueous dispersion.

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Del Prado-Audelo et al. Nanomaterials for Environment Cleanup

NANOREMEDIATION OF GAS PHASE silica nanomaterials may enhance their physicochemical

properties. For example, incorporating hydroxyl groups on the
Air pollution is one of the most significant problems that the surface of the silica nanomaterials may facilitate some surface
world is facing this century since it impacts climate change and phenomena, including gas adsorption and wetting. This approach
public health. The six most common and harmful outdoor air is effective in designing novel catalysts and adsorbents. One of the
pollutants include particle matter (PM10 and PM2.5), nitrogen first studies analyzing the adsorbent capability of modified
oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), lead, mesoporous silica demonstrated that the existence of amine
and ground-level ozone, which is formed by chemical reactions groups on its surface promotes the effective capture of H2S
between NOx and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and CO2 from natural gas (Huang et al., 2003). According to
(Manisalidis et al., 2020). NOx, SOx, VOCs, and ammonia the authors, the material quickly removed up to 80% of the total
(NH3) are considered secondary particulate matter precursors. H2S (35 min) and CO2 (30 min); thus, that material is highly
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant; however, it is the most efficient in removing those gases. Similarly, another report
important greenhouse gas emitted through human activities. In revealed that aminosilicates have the potential to eliminate
order to overcome this problem, several options have been CO2 from ambient air, which suggests that these materials
investigated, including the use of graphene oxides (GOs), may help mitigate climate changes (Choi et al., 2011). In
graphite oxides and CNTs with highly reactive surface sites, addition to CO2, these amine-modified silicates also effectively
and mesoporous silica materials with ordered and tunable eliminate other organic contaminants such as aldehydes and
porous structure, high surface area, large pore volume and ketones (Nomura and Jones 2013, 2014). Thus, they could be
thermal stability (Guerra et al., 2018). applicable for removing pollutants in an industrial environment.
On the other hand, atmospheric contamination by lead (Pb) is an
Carbon-Based Materials emerging environmental and health problem worldwide, and
The benefits of nanotechnology in air pollution control are eliminating Pb from the air represents a challenging question.
remediation and treatment, pollution prevention, and Concerning this, Yang et al. (Yang et al., 2013) developed silica
detection and sensing. The surface of graphite oxide is rich in nanoparticles to tackle this environmental problem. The results
oxygen-containing functional groups, which can be controlled by demonstrated that their silica nanoparticles could remove
changing the reaction temperature with the addition of water atmospheric Pb in polluted air. Therefore, silica-based
(Luo et al., 2018). This material has been used for ammonia gas nanoparticles might represent attractive environmental agents
sensors operating at different temperatures (Bannov et al., 2017; against industrial pollution by Pb and other heavy metals.
Luo et al., 2018). Carbon-based nanomaterials also offer the
possibility of combining other types of nanomaterials to form
nanocomposites, merging different properties in a single new CONCLUSION
material (Scida et al., 2011). GO, and zirconium hydroxide/
graphene composites (Seredych and Bandosz 2010; Babu et al., The high surface-to-volume ratio is the basic strategy offered by
2016) have been applied as an environmental remediation tool nanomaterials to adsorb contaminants. However, the increase in
through the adsorption of SO2. GO was also partially reduced via surface area is one of the main disadvantages of nanomaterials,
photoreduction under ultraviolet light irradiation and used as a and therefore, the appearance of the flocculation phenomenon
photocatalyst to degrade VOCs (Tai et al., 2019). Furthermore, a and possible particle coalescence. Therefore, a challenge is to find
GO membrane with a large specific surface area and a continuous the balance between physical stability and adequate surface
pore structure was used to capture PM2.5 (Jung et al., 2018; Zou activity that favors interaction with pollutants. While
et al., 2019). There have been numerous studies on CNTs in order stabilization with non-ionic surfactants allows a decrease in
to enhance their adsorption properties. CNTs typically must be flocculation, possibly the addition of functional groups to
modified or coated with other reactive materials having increase the removal of pollutants such as -COOH and -NH2
appropriate functional groups or charges (Guerra et al., 2018). can prevent the agglomeration of nanoparticles under specific pH
Modified MWCNTs or SWCNTs have been utilized to detect H2S conditions through a simultaneous mechanism of repulsion of
and SO2 (Zhang et al., 2012), CO and NH3 (Dong et al., 2013), electrical charges. With this proposal, the use of non-ionic
NO2 and NH3 (Kim et al., 2016), NO2 (Park et al., 2019), VOCs surfactants would not be necessary. In addition, another
(Amade et al., 2014), NOx and CO2 (Su et al., 2009). challenge is the complexity of the different media. The
formation of a corona can overshadow sophisticated
Silica-Based Materials nanomaterials on the nanoparticle’s surface with ligands from
Silica-based nanomaterials exhibit high versatility because of the contaminated medium; therefore, nanoremediation may be
their numerous advantageous properties, including wide favored with previous cleaning steps.
surface area, adjustable pore size, and easily adaptable surfaces
(Shukla et al., 2020). Furthermore, the ability of these
nanomaterials for catalysis and adsorption has led to a AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
growing interest in recent years for the remediation of
polluted air and the elimination of contaminants in the gas Conceptualization, GL-G, JM and MDP-A; investigation, LE-
phase (Guerra et al., 2018). The superficial modification of G, JR-G, IGK, and GL-G; writing—original draft preparation,

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Del Prado-Audelo et al. Nanomaterials for Environment Cleanup

LE-G, JR-G, MDP-A, and GL-G; writing—review and editing, FUNDING

IGK, MDP-A, and GL-G; visualization, GL-G; supervision,
MDP-A, and GL-G; project administration, MDP-A, JM This research was funded by CONACYT A1-S-15759 to Gerardo
and GL-G. Leyva-Gómez and Fundación Miguel Alemán Valdés grant to JM.

Current Technologies for Contaminants Removal. J. Environ. Manage. 162,

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