ABSTRACT
Environmental remediation involves the removal of pollutants from surface water, ground water, soil, etc. The use of nanomaterials is an emerging approach for the removal of contaminants from the environment. The term ‘nano remediation’ is based on the use of nanoparticles for environmental clean-up. Over the past few years, enormous efforts have been devoted to the engineering of nanomaterials for environmental clean-up. Many nanomaterials have been developed which offer efficient removal of pollutants via adsorption or degradation. However, besides their great achievements in environmental remediation, the applicability of these materials is facing the challenges of selectivity and toxicity.
Functionalization of these nanomaterials has come up as a promising technique for fabricating new nanomaterials. This combines the advantages of the unique properties of nanoscale materials with properties of selectivity and toxicity. For example, the capping of core of iron oxide nanoparticles protects them from corrosion and reduces their toxicity. Similarly, other properties of nanoparticles can be tailored by using different functionalization techniques. The importance and salient features of functionalized nanoparticles and their role in environmental applications have been briefed in this chapter.
