Efficient detection and treatment of pharmaceutical contaminants to produce clean water for better health and environmental
Mokgehle R. Letsoalo, Thandiwe Sithole, Maluta Steven Mufamadi, Zvanaka S. Mazhandu, Mika Sillanpää, Ajeet Kaushik, Tebogo Mashifana
Abstract
The influx of emerging, prescribed, and FDA approved pharmaceutical contaminants (PCs) in the environment is continuously affecting human health and human cycle (even at trace amount) via contaminating water and aquatic life. Among them, non-degradable water-soluble residues which have been integrated with water streams and groundwater is a serious concern and is now a focus of United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals 2030. In this direction, the removal and eradication of PCs from wastewater is challenging but seems manageable via selective detection and efficient remediation using nano-enabled functional systems. To explore this field well for covering gaps, this article is an attempt to explain wide variety of emerging pharmaceutical contaminants, related bio-toxicity, health risks, detection techniques, and approaches of remediation. With the aim of health and environmental management, selective detection and eradication of PCs simultaneously is recommended using nano-system of tuneable properties managed via adopting green approaches. Significant efforts are being made to achieve 1) detection of PCs at very low level (ppb) needed for early-stage water diagnostics and 2) eradicating PCs using stimuli-responsive catalysis. In both the cases, the design and development of electro-active nano-systems of desired feature is key requirement for developing acceptable and affordable health and environmental management strategies. The outcomes of this article will encourage scholars to develop novel and efficient nano-systems capable of detection and eradication of targeted PCs to produce clean and healthy water for everyone.