Environmental Nanotechnology: A Universal, Green Process for the Synthesis of Functional Nanocomposites

Abstract

Environmental nanotechnology is broadly defined as the application of nano-scale materials (10^-9 m) to environmental systems as well as the impacts of these materials on air, water, and soil quality. There are significant advantages to using nanomaterials for pollution control due to their high reactivity and ability to specifically bind to target pollutants under diverse conditions. However, nanomaterials can have negative biogeochemical and toxicological effects in natural systems. Furthermore, nanomaterials can be difficult to identify and remove in natural and engineered systems. To facilitate the application of nanomaterials to pollution control, research has turned to using nanoparticles embedded in macro-sized support materials referred to as “nanocomposites.” The work presented here builds upon preliminary work on the synthesis of selenium nanomaterials for the removal of mercury from water. The synthesis process was simplified and expanded for use with four other nanomaterials: iron, copper, titanium, and zinc. These nanomaterials were utilized as high-efficiency pollutant binding “sorbents” for dissolved phosphorus, arsenic, and organic contaminants. Furthermore, titanium and zinc nanomaterials were successfully fabricated on textile materials to enable UV resistant and antimicrobial functionalities. Collectively, this work provides a fundamental basis for scalable nanocomposite synthesis with minimal chemical inputs and the diverse application of these composite materials.