Inorganic nanomaterials in polymeric water decontamination membranes

One of the major research challenges today is the efficient treatment and desalination of seawater, brackish water, and wastewater to make it recyclable and ecofriendly. Membrane technology has offered an increasingly important role to overcome confronts associated with the water treatment. Polymeric membrane is the most common and preliminary technology used for water purification. However, solicitation of polymeric membrane is restricted due to inadequate permeability, selectivity, strength, and low fouling resistance. Consequently, polymeric nanocomposite has emerged as a promising solution to address these flouts. Nanocomposite membrane is considered as a new class of membranes prepared by combining polymeric materials with nanoparticles. Advanced nanocomposite membranes based on polymer/inorganic nanoparticle materials have been designed to meet explicit water treatment applications. This review basically summarizes scientific and technological advances toward the development of polymer/inorganic nanoparticle nanocomposite membranes for water treatment. A wide range of inorganic nanoparticles have been used to reinforce polymers such as metal and metal oxide nanoparticle, nanoclay, and zeolite. Polymer/inorganic nanoparticle nanocomposite membranes have been fabricated by fine tuning the structure and physicochemical properties such as porosity, hydrophilicity, antibacterial, thermal, and mechanical characteristics. Moreover, inorganic nanoparticle incorporated in matrix may behave as adsorbents for the removal of toxic metal ions, inorganic, organic, and biological micropollutant, and other noxious compounds from aqueous solutions. Toward the end, challenges and future research trends on high-performance polymer/inorganic nanoparticle nanocomposite membranes have been discussed.