3. Nano-materials for Wastewater Treatment

Heavy metal and ionic contamination in wastewater and surface water has been reported in many parts of the world and studied as a major global issue. Their exposure in a trace amount is hazardous for human health, thus; it is critical and challenging to remove undesirable metals from the water system. Today various methods have been placed for effective removal of heavy metals from the water like chemical precipitation, ion exchange, adsorption, membrane filtration and electrochemical technologies. The low-cost adsorbent has been studied as a substitute for costly current methods. The synthesis and characterization of nano-composite material for treating wastewater through adsorption using magnetic nano-sized ferric oxide (FeO) namely iron oxide have been discussed. It was then functionalized with graphene due to its large surface area. Due to the magnetic nature of this composite, it can be easily separated from the water under a magnetic field. Their chemical synthesis, characterization (XRD, SEM, TEM, and AAS), sorption behaviour of heavy metals [e.g. Pb(II), Cd(II), Cr(VI) and As (III)] from aqueous systems under varying experimental conditions has also been studied.