Providing safe drinking water and clean water is becoming a more challenging task all around the world. Although some critical issues and limits remain unsolved, implementing ecologically sustainable nanomaterials (NMs) with unique features, e.g., highly efficient and selective, earth-abundance, renewability, low-cost manufacturing procedures, and stability, has become a priority. Carbon nanoparticles (NPs) offer tremendous promise in the sectors of energy and the environment. However, a series of far more ecologically friendly synthesis techniques based on natural, renewable, and less expensive waste resources must be explored. This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and harmful material extraction and assist the development of green technologies. The progress achieved in the previous 10 years in the fabrication of novel carbon-based NMs utilizing waste materials as well as natural precursors is reviewed in this article. Research on carbon-based NPs and their production using naturally occurring precursors and waste materials focuses on this review research. Water treatment and purification using carbon NMs, notably for industrial and pharmaceutical wastes, has shown significant potential. Research in this area focuses on enhanced carbonaceous NMs, methods, and novel nano-sorbents for wastewater, drinking water, groundwater treatment, as well as ionic metal removal from aqueous environments. Discussed are the latest developments and challenges in environmentally friendly carbon and graphene quantum dot NMs.

Herein, we report the synthesis of nanoparticles and doping of Cu-doped Co–Zn ferrites using the auto-combustion sol–gel synthesis technique. X-ray diffraction studies confirmed the single-phase structure of the samples with space group Fd3m and crystallite size in the range of 20.57–32.69 nm. Transmission electron microscopy micrographs and selected area electron diffraction patterns confirmed the polycrystalline nature of the ferrite nanoparticles. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed the elemental composition in the absence of any impurity phases. Fourier-transform infrared studies showed the presence of two prominent peaks at approximately 420 cm⁻¹ and 580 cm⁻¹, showing metal–oxygen stretching and the formation of ferrite composite. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was employed to determine the oxidation states of Fe, Co, Zn, and Cu and O vacancies based on which cationic distributions at tetrahedral and octahedral sites are proposed. Dielectric spectroscopy showed that the samples exhibit Maxwell–Wagner interfacial polarization, which decreases as the frequency of the applied field increases. The dielectric loss of the samples was less than 1, confirming that the samples can be used for the fabrication of multilayer inductor chips. The ac conductivity of the samples increased with increasing doping and with frequency, and this has been explained by the hopping model. The hysteresis loops revealed that coercivity decreases slightly with doping, while the highest saturation magnetization of 55.61 emu/g was obtained when x = 0.1. The magnetic anisotropic constant was found to be less than 0.5, which suggests that the samples exhibit uniaxial anisotropy rather than cubic anisotropy. The squareness ratio indicates that the samples are useful in high-frequency applications.

The unique properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials have piqued the interest of the technical community. Titanium carbide (MXene) is a member of a rapidly expanding family of 2D materials with exceptional physiochemical characteristics and a wide range of uses in the environmental field. 2D MXene has long been a topic of interest in environmental applications, including wastewater treatment, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, photocatalysis, and hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) due to its high conductivity, varied band gap, hydrophilic nature, and exceptional structural stability. This study covers important developments in 2D MXene and discusses how design, synthetic methods, and stability have changed over time. In this review paper, we have discussed the strategy synthesizing of conventional, affordable heterojunctions and Schottky junctions, as well as the development, mechanisms, and trends in the deterioration of environmental organic contaminants, HER, and EMI Shielding. We also explore the obstacles and restrictions that prevent the scientific community from producing practical MXene with regulated characteristics and structures for environmental applications and analyzing its present usage. The hazardous-environmental aspects of MXene-based materials and the problems and future possibilities of these applications are also examined and emphasized. This review paper focused on environmental applications such as heavy metal detection and removal, EMI shielding, and hydrogen generation using MXenes. The issues related to wastewater, electromagnetic interference, and clean energy production are very persistent in the environment, and a better material is required to address these challenges. Thus, MXene is a kind of material that could be a better alternative to address these persistent issues, and hence, this review becomes very important, which can pave the way for the development of MXene-based materials to address these issues. Graphical abstract

Rubus ellipticus fruits aqueous extract derived ZnO-nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized through a green synthesis method. The structural, optical, and morphological properties of ZnO-NPs were investigated using XRD, FTIR, UV-vis spectrophotometer, XPS, FESEM, and TEM. The Rietveld refinement confirmed the phase purity of ZnO-NPs with hexagonal wurtzite crystalline structure and p-63-mc space group with an average crystallite size of 20 nm. XPS revealed the presence of an oxygen chemisorbed species on the surface of ZnO-NPs. In addition, the nanoparticles exhibited significant in vitro antioxidant activity due to the attachment of the hydroxyl group of the phenols on the surface of the nanoparticles. Among all microbial strains, nanoparticles’ maximum antibacterial and antifungal activity in terms of MIC was observed against Bacillus subtilis (31.2 µg/mL) and Rosellinia necatrix (15.62 µg/mL), respectively. The anticancer activity revealed 52.41% of A549 cells death (IC₅₀: 158.1 ± 1.14 µg/mL) at 200 μg/mL concentration of nanoparticles, whereas photocatalytic activity showed about 17.5% degradation of the methylene blue within 60 min, with a final dye degradation efficiency of 72.7%. All these results suggest the medicinal potential of the synthesized ZnO-NPs and therefore can be recommended for use in wastewater treatment and medicinal purposes by pharmacological industries.