Identification and Removal of Nano/Micro-plastics using Nanostructured Materials: From Fundamentals to Environmental Applications

Abstract

The rising issue of microplastics (1 μm-5 mm) and nanoplastics (<1 μm) pollution in the environment due to the urbanization, industrialization, and modernization of the society causes serious health and environmental risks. These nano/micro-plastics (NMPs) contaminants infiltrate air, water, and soil systems, threatening ecological balance and food safety through their persistence and toxicity. Consequently, extensive research efforts have been devoted to developing sensitive detection and efficient removal strategies for NMPs at trace levels. Interestingly, due to the advancements in nanoscience and development of various nanostructured materials (i.e. 0-3D nanomaterials) with excellent surface and optoelectronic properties, several promising strategies have been developed for ultra-detection of NMPs as well as for their removal in the environment (including air, water, soil etc.). Such nanostructured materials have been explored in recent years as a next-generation solution for environmental monitoring and remediation of NMPs. Moreover, this review comprehensively discusses various nanostructured materials including plasmonic metals, semiconductor photocatalysts, 2D nanomaterials, and 3D frameworks such as MOFs along with their hybrids, emphasizing their unique structural and functional attributes that enable effective sensing, identification, and removal of NMPs from the environment. The present review also highlights the NMPs sources, characteristics, and impacts, followed by conventional detection and removal methods in comparison to the emerging roles of nanostructured materials in SERS, electrochemical sensing along with removal through adsorption and photocatalytic processes. While such nanomaterials demonstrate superior efficiency and selectivity compared to the conventional methods, their practical application is constrained by cost, synthesis complexity, and scalability limitations. Eventually, various such challenges including laboratory performance to the environmental implications and related risks have been discussed.