Functionalized Nanomaterials (FNMs) for Environmental Applications

Nanomaterials empower the advances of innovative solutions to environmental problems. Among the broad range of nanomaterials, functionalized nanomate- rials emerged as promising catalyst for environmental issues. Functionalization of nanomaterials offers a great advantage on cost effectiveness and enhances the properties in many folds. Implementation of bare nanomaterials has a few chal- lenges as well as limitations such as instability, agglomeration and reusability. Functionalization of the nanomaterials facilitates to overcome these problems. Addition of functional groups helps in tailoring the nanomaterial surface to enrich the specific sites on the surface level. This chapter discusses the engineer- ing of functionalized nanomaterials and focuses on environmental applications. Different materials such as cellulose, chitosan, silica, metal oxides, and other poly- mers are added to nanomaterials and the introduction of functional groups on the surface which results composite materials of enhanced capability. Different pro- cess of functionalization namely direct functionalization, postsynthetic function- alization, grafting-to, grafting-from, and grafting-through methods are illustrated. Nanomaterial and functional group interaction such as covalent and noncovalent bonding is described. This chapter highlights the limitations of different materi- als in various aspects of environmental applications. It provides a clear overvie