Molecular imprinting-based nanocomposite adsorbents for typical pollutants removal

Abstract

Environment pollution as a worldwide issue calls for high-performance adsorbent materials for effective removal and remediation. Nanocomposites have come to the force to remove pollutants due to their superior adsorption performances from nanosize effect, combination-versatility, and inheritance/transcendence of the parent constituents. Among them, molecular imprinting-based nanocomposites with tailor-made binding sites complementary to target molecules have drawn great research interests in environmental pollutants removal due to the outstanding recognition selectivity. Herein, the general fabrication and typical components of molecular imprinting-based nanocomposite adsorbents are summarized. Furthermore, synthesis strategies taken to improve the adsorption performances of nanocomposites are presented to provide a backdrop for future research.