Chapter 8 - Carbon dots and fullerene-based nanoadsorbents in wastewater treatment

Abstract

With the global proliferation of industrialization, various contaminants generated as by-products are discharged into the water ecosystem, which led to the hazardous contamination of water, becoming among the most catastrophic ecological concerns. Taking into consideration, several forms of carbon such as carbon dots (CDs) and fullerenes have been recognized as an innovative and intriguing approach for wastewater treatment as they have significant characteristics including chemical, thermal, mechanical, and antibacterial attributes, along with reinforcement capability, which helps to maintain the ecological balance. In this chapter, the effects of initial concentration, the porous media grain size of CDs and fullerenes in saturated and unsaturated porous media will be emphasized. Their detection capability and mechanism for the detection of toxic and nonbiodegradable pollutants will be discussed. Additionally, several characterization techniques such as fluorescence, XPS, and FT-IR, aggregation of CDs and fullerenes under the different experimental conditions will be elaborated.