Fabrication and characterization of nanostructures from waste polymers for water and wastewater treatment

Owing to the world population growth trend projected to reach 8.6 billion in the next decade, there is increased polymeric waste and demand for water due to economic growth, increased urbanization, and climate change. This has led to a heightened need for safe drinking water and waste/wastewater management for urban sustainability and global water security. Meanwhile, polymers are a threat to the environment and human lives because of their long life cycle and difficulty in naturally degrading. Polymer circularity is widely regarded as one of the commonly acknowledged solutions to the issue posed by increasing volumes of polymer waste. Nanostructured materials are very intriguing with the remarkable property of structure's dimension less than the required critical length, giving rise to a large surface area. Accordingly, the nature of nanostructures leads to novel and typically unusual magnetic, mechanical, optical, thermal, and electrical properties at the nanoscale. Numerous functionalized nanoscaled materials and molecular level manipulation have found applications in a multitude of industries, including environmental remedies in the treatment of air, soil, and water contamination. Therefore, this chapter targets to deliver an outline of the nature of nanostructures, nanostructure fabrication techniques, nanostructures from polymer wastes, characterization of nanostructures from waste polymer, and nanostructure applications in water and wastewater treatment.