A review of plasma modification strategies of nanomaterials for wastewater treatment
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Journal of Water Process Engineering |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108350 |
| Doi | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108350 |
| Keywords | Nanomaterials (NMs); Cold plasma; Photocatalysis; Wastewater treatment; Plasma modifications |
| Description | The discharge of wastewater into aquatic environments has emerged as a major environmental concern in recent decades. The capture and degradation of pollutants in wastewater using nanomaterials (NMs) has emerged as a cost-effective and highly efficient strategy through adsorption, membrane filtration, and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), including heterogeneous photocatalysis. This review examines NMs features that influence their optoelectronic properties and resulting performance in the AOPs that can be employed in wastewater treatment. This work particularly highlights the modification of NMs by low-temperature and atmospheric pressure plasmas e.g., dielectric barrier discharge, plasma jet, corona and gliding arc discharge. These plasma modification strategies are favored over conventional chemical methods due to their minimal waste generation, production of non-toxic byproducts, preservation of bulk material properties, solvent-free (dry) operation, rapid, energy-efficient processing, and scalability to large areas. Emphasis is placed on defect engineering, the generation of oxygen vacancies, and surface functionalization of NMs by plasma. These key factors can shift the band gap of NMs, improve charge carrier separation, boost reactive oxygen species formation, provide additional pathways for charge transfer, enhance visible light response, and increase surface area. Collectively, these effects alter the performance of NMs in pollutant degradation. |
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