Affordable and Clean Drinking Water Using Nanomaterials

Realizing the molecular nature of contaminants in drinking water and the need to remove them at ultra trace levels, significant progress has been made in the recent past to utilize nanomaterials for water purification. This article summarizes our recent efforts to understand the chemistry of nanoscale materials for the purification of drinking water. The application of metal/metal oxide nanoparticles/graphene-based chemistry for drinking water purification can be summarized for three major types of contaminants: halogenated organics including pesticides, heavy metals such as arsenic and microorganisms. We were the first to introduce a nanomaterials-based purifier for drinking water to tackle pesticide contamination. Recent efforts for the removal, as well as ultralow concentration detection of such species, using a variety of nanostructures will be summarized. There are several materials emerging in the recent past and their chemistry may also be utilized for this application