Publication:

"Green" nanomaterials : synthesis, assessment, and their potential application in soil remediation.

Resumen en español

The effects of environmental pollution on planetary health have led to a growing interest in implementing sustainable remediation processes, which should ideally be characterized by a high efficiency for the elimination of recalcitrant substances and a null production of cross-pollution. In this ambit, nanomaterials synthesized from green chemistry principles emerge as an alternative for the development of eco-friendly technological strategies. However, this framework of thought is qualitative in nature and not gives minimum criteria for using the term ¿green¿ in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. This adjective is usually employed to refer to those processes developed through bio-based nanotechnological methods without take in consideration its net ecological impact under out-lab conditions. Nonetheless, biobased synthesis represents a promissory technology to obtain eco-friendly nanomaterials with greater suitability to be applied in strategies of environmental remediation. Particularly, in the previous context, iron-based nanomaterials are able of reducing the concentration of a wide variety of pollutants individually or by synergy processes with other bioremediation agents. By the above, it is expected that the release into the environment of iron biobased nanomaterials will increase over time, and therefore, it is of interest to establish the potential interactions that they can undergo with the soil components (e.g., soil atmosphere, soil solution, humified organic matter, and minerals, among others). This review is focused on ¿green¿ nanomaterials and includes not only fundamental and synthetic aspects, but also, a review of the quantitative assessment from a green chemistry and sustainability criteria. In addition, the potential application of biobased nanotechnology into soil remediation, using as model iron-based nanomaterials, is reviewed, and discussed. Finally, it is relevant to clear that this document is based on two review articles and a book chapter in which the different aspects previously indicated are shown and analyzed in greater detail