Hydrogel nanocomposite for water remediation

Water pollution represents a significant global threat to the aquifers, human lives, water resources, and the general environment. This necessitates the development of effective and eco-friendly remediation strategies for proper mitigation. Hydrogel nanocomposites have evolved to be a promising entity for water purification due to their unparalleled properties and versatile applications. The quality of effect demonstrated by the hydrogel nanocomposite toward water remediation is ascribed to their advanced surface area, functional groups, and porosity. These attributes intensify the dissociation of pollutants utilizing catalytic degradation, ion exchange, and adsorption mechanisms. Exceptional performance has also been demonstrated in the dissociation of organic pollutants and heavy metals, as well as microbial contaminants from water sources. All these activities have been attributed to these unique materials. The emergence of diverse experimental and theoretical techniques such as X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and many more has reported the hydrogel nanocomposites' comprehensive structural properties evaluation and pollutant-removal mechanism. While hydrogel nanocomposites possess promising solutions for waste remediation, there are still challenges to addressing their environmental sustainability concerns. Therefore this chapter supplies an overview of the fabrication, properties, and practical applications of the hydrogel nanocomposite for water remediation, as well as their possible challenges and future perspectives.