Abstract
Over the past five years, a lot of research activities in polymer composites were done in order to improve environmental sustainability and to present advantages for commercial applications of water treatment and desalination. Polymers offered tunable properties, improved processability, remarkable stability, high surface area for fast decontamination, selectivity to eliminate different pollutants, and cost-cutting of water treatment. Hence, the development of polymeric materials is one of the future directions to meet the environmental water standards and to supply the water requirements of the growing populations. This review highlighted the very recent achievements in fabrication, characterization, and applications of polymeric composites used for water treatment and desalination. The polymeric modifications, the addition of functional groups, and the assemblies of nanomaterials were also discussed in detail. In particular, great attention was paid to the recent advances in polymer/polymer composites, polymer/carbon composites, and polymer/clay composites, presenting their usage in the removal of various types of contaminants, e.g., metal ions, dyes, and other toxic pollutants. The review also summarized the main advantages and disadvantages of the different adsorbent materials. Specific attention was paid to the mechanism of adsorption, including chemisorption and physisorption mechanisms. In addition, the challenges and the future perspectives were identified to reach the optimal performance of the different adsorbents.
Highlights
Polymer composites are defined as a combination of polymers with other organic or inorganic materials to provide new material with target properties, like low density, toughness, stiffness, thermal behavior, chemical and mechanical stability, and other specific properties depending on the target of use
A novel composite of magnesium-aluminum based layered double hydroxides (LDH) with polydopamine was prepared for the elimination of copper ions from aqueous media. e results of this study showed a remarkable improvement in the adsorption efficiency of copper ions
A hydrogel of Co/Al layered double hydroxide-polyacrylamide composite was synthesized via in situ polymerization of acrylamide at room temperature in the presence of LDH. e mechanism of hydrogel composite formation was described by coordination and hydrogen bonding interactions between the amide groups of acrylamide and hydroxyl groups of LDH sheets. e composite was utilized for the elimination of methyl orange from wastewater, showing a high adsorption efficiency [57]
Summary
Polymer composites are defined as a combination of polymers with other organic or inorganic materials to provide new material with target properties, like low density, toughness, stiffness, thermal behavior, chemical and mechanical stability, and other specific properties depending on the target of use. A lot of polymer composites were introduced with significant use in water treatment and desalination, including graphene-based composites, carbon-based composites, and clay-based composites [1,2,3]. E polymer composite research was offered due the need for materials with better adsorption and removal characteristics of metal ions, dyes, and other toxic pollutants. E polymers used for these composites have been mainly classified on the basis of source (natural and synthetic polymers) and on the basis of structure (linear, branched, and crosslinked polymers). Is review describes the source and the structure of these polymers and their composites, properties, and applications in water treatment and desalination as follows [4,5,6,7,8] E polymers used for these composites have been mainly classified on the basis of source (natural and synthetic polymers) and on the basis of structure (linear, branched, and crosslinked polymers). is review describes the source and the structure of these polymers and their composites, properties, and applications in water treatment and desalination as follows [4,5,6,7,8]
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