Electrospun Nanomaterials: Applications in Water Contamination Remediation

Abstract

Recent growth in industrialization and globalization has resulted in excessive water-stress in our water resources. Pollution in water pollution comes from anthropogenic activities and level of pollution and emerging contaminants have become an immediate challenge to the living organisms. Water resources now consist of metals, inorganics, pathogens, returned pharmaceuticals, dyes, pesticides, toxic industrial chemicals, organic pollutants, and other new and emerging contaminants, which need to be sufficiently treated before disposal back into the natural body of water. Several membrane-based water purification technologies have attracted attention and interest in the last decade. One of the methodologies that is applied commonly is by using membranes. Among various membranes, electrospun nanofibrous membranes offer unique properties, such as high and tunable porosity, high surface area, tunability in the composition and structure, functionalization ability and good mechanical behaviour, to be used in water purification compared to conventional membranes. This chapter reviews the past achievements and recent research trends of electrospun nanofibrous materials employed for water remediation.