A 6 weeks pot culture experiment was carried out to investigate the stabilization effects of a modified biochar (BCM) on metals in contaminated soil and the uptake of these metals by wheat seedlings. The results showed that the application of BCM significantly increased the soil fertility, the biomass of wheat seedling roots increased by more than 50%, and soil dehydrogenase (DHA) and catalase (CAT) activities increased by 369.23% and 12.61%, respectively. In addition, with the application of BCM, the diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid extractable (DTPA-extractable) Cd, Pb, Cu and Zn in soil were reduced from 2.34 to 0.38 mg/kg, from 49.27 to 25.65 mg/kg, from 3.55 mg/kg to below the detection limit and from 4.05 to 3.55 mg/kg, respectively. Correspondingly, the uptake of these metals in wheat roots and shoots decreased by 62.43% and 79.83% for Cd, 73.21% and 66.32% for Pb, 57.98% and 68.92% for Cu, and 40.42% and 43.66% for Zn. Furthermore, BCM application decreased the abundance and alpha diversity of soil bacteria and changed the soil bacterial community structure dramatically. Overall, BCM has great potential for the remediation of metal-contaminated soils, but its long-term impact on soil metals and biota need further research.

Nowadays, with the rapid development of industry and agriculture, heavy metal pollution is becoming more and more serious, mainly deriving from natural and man-made sources

Water pollution has caused the ecosystem to be in a state of imbalance for a long time. It has become a major global ecological and environmental problem today. Solving the potential hidden dangers of pollutants and avoiding unauthorized access to resources has become the necessary condition and important task to ensure the sustainable development of human society. To solve such problems, this review summarizes the research progress of nanomaterials in the field of water aimed at the treatment of water pollution and the development and utilization of new energy. The paper also tries to seek scientific solutions to environmental degradation and to create better living environmental conditions from previously published cutting edge research. The main content in this review article includes four parts: advanced oxidation, catalytic adsorption, hydrogen, and oxygen production. Among a host of other things, this paper also summarizes the various ways by which composite nanomaterials have been combined for enhancing catalytic efficiency, reducing energy consumption, recycling, and ability to expand their scope of application. Hence, this paper provides a clear roadmap on the status, success, problems, and the way forward for future studies.

Transition metal compounds demonstrated good performance in the removal of environmentally harmful contaminants, such as arsenic, while the aggregation propensity and poor chemical stability should be noticed. In this study, the nZVI/MXene@CNTs was adequately prepared by liquid reduction precipitation method for adsorption and oxidation of As(III) from the aqueous solution. The results of batch removal experiments showed that the maximum removal capacity of the nZVI/MXene@CNTs for As(III) was 443.32 mg/g with the pH = 3.0 at 25 °C. The effects of initial pH, dosage of materials and ionic strength on As(III) removal were explored. According to the various characterization analyses, the most plausible mechanisms of As(III) removal were the surface complexation, solid phase precipitation and the catalytic oxidation by the •OH. Furthermore, the nZVI/MXene@CNTs could be readily activated and reused via leaching with 0.1 M NaOH solution, due to the three-dimensional mesh intercalation structure. Therefore, it is a potential nanocomplex for removing and recovering As(III) from water with excellent capacity and environmental friendliness.