Recent advances in graphene-derived materials for biomedical waste treatment
Graphical abstract
Introduction
With the innovative development of advanced biomedical technology, new challenges, such as biomedical waste management, are being created [1], [2]. Biomedical wastes (BMW) are mostly generated by pharmaceutical industries, healthcare facilities, medical and educational research institutions, nursing homes, and hospitals during medical treatment of human and veterinary populations as presented in Fig. 1. They include expired vaccines and drugs, blood products, tissues, organic fluids, radioactive waste, and chemical and pharmaceutical residues. BMW may also contain chemical, surgical, pharmaceutical, cytotoxic and other biological waste materials which are potentially hazardous to living organisms including humans and the environment [3], [4]. Inadequate BMW management can have consequences, such as increasing infectious diseases, resulting from groundwater contamination [5]. It has been established that even trace amounts of various drug residues can exist in surface, ground and even drinking water [6]. The remainder of drugs that undergo partial metabolism in the human body is discharged as effluent into receiving water bodies. A large majority of such drugs is antibiotics of which about 80–90 % return to the environment via excretion in their parent form due to their robust molecular structure, making them to degrade naturally [7].
Several conventional and advanced techniques, such as electrochemical treatments, filtration, precipitation, membrane separation, photocatalysis, ion-exchange, reverse osmosis and adsorption, have been used for treatment of antibiotics in wastewater [8], [9], [10]. However, they still face challenges of cost-effectiveness, environmental friendliness, and process efficiency from material preparation to process optimization [11]. Graphene and its derivatives have impacted wastewater treatment and have been utilized in photocatalysis, adsorption or as an effective electrode in various treatment technologies and applications [12], [13], [14], [15], [16]. Adsorption have numerous advantages such as its high efficacy, low cost, and ecological viability to remove organic contaminants from water [17], [18], [19].
Graphene is a planar single-atom layer thick sheet and two-dimensionally structured material composed of tightly packed sp2-bonded carbon atoms in a honeycomb crystal lattice with a distinct charge mobility carrier, a broad electrochemical spectrum, and physicochemical properties [20], [21], [22]. As a result of its outstanding optical, thermal, electrical and mechanical properties as well as its high specific surface area, graphene has emerged a revolutionary material with wide range of applications, including its use as innovative adsorbents for water treatment [23], [24]. It's an excellent adsorbent for removing a wide range of inorganic and organic pollutants because of its high surface area, abundance of active sites and excellent delocalized electron systems [25]. Despite significant progress made in the development and application of grapheme-based adsorbents, some inherent disadvantages remain.
The hydrophobic nature of its surface and ease of aggregation in hydrous solution are disadvantages of graphene both of which significantly reduce its adsorption capacity in practical applications [26], [27]. During liquid processing graphene even rolls to form graphite. Aggregation can limit its adsorptive application by blocking active sorption sites, decreasing theoretical surface area and impeding rapid mass transport [28]. Functionalized graphene can be designed to address some of these limitations. It is essential to understand the adsorption efficiency of graphene-based materials and how it correlates to the mechanisms of interaction between adsorbents and contaminants in order to advance the development of its functionalized composites and their applications in waste treatment [29]. As a result of their high surface area and abundance of active sites, there has been considerable interest in graphene-based materials as potential adsorptive pollutants removal from water. The underlying adsorption mechanisms are used for creating graphene-based adsorbents for target pollutants. Reports on composite GO and semiconductor photocatalytic materials have increased in recent years and GO as a good carrier for photocatalysts has improved the properties of materials developed [30], [31]. GO/Ag3PO4 composite material and the GO sheet was coated with Ag3PO4 nanoparticles. In photocatalytic degradation experiments, composite materials outperform pure Ag3PO4 in photocatalytic performance. This chapter discusses recent advances in the graphene synthesis and graphene-based materials and its applications in biomedical treatment via adsorption and photocatalytic methods. The present review begins with the synthesis, adsorptive and photocatalytic treatment, isotherm and kinetic study, reusability and mechanisms of graphene-based materials in biomedical waste treatment. This review is expected to provide relevant existing knowledge and stimulate fresh ideas for the development of safe and efficient graphene nanomaterials-based biomedical devices. With the development of graphene nanoparticles, numerous other cutting-edge materials will also surely be found, and numerous futuristic technologies will also become feasible.
Section snippets
Synthesis of graphene nanostructures
The extraordinary electronic, surface, mechanical and optoelectronic attributes (properties) of 2-dimensional graphene- a crystal lattice of carbon atoms are intriguing, making it possible to develop various innovations across a broad spectrum of industries [32], [33]. The term “graphene synthesis” refers to any process, whether chemical or mechanical, that is used to produce graphene with the desired level of purity and dimensions of the finished product [34]. Currently, graphene synthesis
Biomedical waste treatment using graphene
As the world's population expands so is medicines and healthcare products demand to treat diseases. Thus, there is a need to channel resources and technology towards improving and promoting the manufacturing of various pharmaceutical and medical products. However, the lack of proper techniques and the use of sub-optimal approaches to waste minimization during production, post-production and/or treatment stages by pharmaceutical industries or health care facilities generate effluents that are
Graphene-based nanocomposites
The performance of graphene adsorbents is mostly determined by their uniform dispersion in solution as well as their high sorption capacity to a variety of contaminants. Graphene often has a high affinity to aggregate or even roll to form graphite during liquid processing [113]. Aggregation can limit its adsorptive applicability by obstructing active sorption sites, limiting theoretical surface area, and impeding rapid mass transfer. Due to the electrostatic repulsion between them, GO has a low
Biomedical treatment using graphene-based nanocomposites
Graphene is fundamentally a monatomic graphite layer, a mineral-rich allotrope of carbon made up of tightly bonded carbon atoms organized in a hexagonal lattice. As a result of its sp2 hybridization and extremely thin atomic thickness of 0.345 nm, graphene is a very distinct material [76]. However, its hydrophobic nature which makes it insoluble in hydrophilic solvents like water limits its application in water purification. In order to overcome this limitation, the hydrophobic nature must be
Adsorption isotherm and kinetic studies
Studies of isotherm and kinetics of adsorption experiment is a way of understanding probable mechanisms as well as pathways associated with the process. Generally, the adsorption isotherms refer to the quantity of pollutant adsorbed with the pollutant's concentration in the substrate at equilibrium. It is also needed to evaluate the adsorbent's efficiency for removing contaminants and investigate the surface properties [136]. An earlier study of adsorption isotherms shows the most frequently
Photocatalytic degradation of biomedical waste
Several chemical treatment methods such as ozonation, chlorination, and Fenton's oxidation have undergone developments for removing antibiotic remains from wastewater. However, difficult or extensively prolonged process in obtaining total decomposition and possible destruction of desirable organisms because of their low selectivity leading to undesirable losses are major drawbacks to these methods [161]. In addition to the above, the process incurs high economic capital and operational cost.
Recyclability of graphene-based nanomaterials
Due to its low economic cost and environmental sustainability, graphene has been widely applied in industrial applications. High quality product yield at minimal cost implication is a major consideration in any industrial process. However, as compared to lab-scale conditions, the industrial application is tougher and more complex. The stability and reusability of graphene must therefore be high for it to be considered for continuous process development for industrial application [188]. A major
Future perspectives
The potential of graphene and its composites in wastewater treatment application towards the removal of biomedical pollutants and toxic compounds is significant. Novel treatment methods were developed years ago and their performance can be improved by incorporating novel functional materials like GO and graphene-based nanoparticles. Simultaneous adsorption and photodegradation is now seen as a new strategy in biomedical wastewater treatment beyond phase transfer offering degradation and
Conclusion
The benefits of medicine and medical healthcare are undisputed; however, production and extensive use has resulted in waste generation and biomedical pollution. With current innovation, development and advanced medical technology, there are new challenges such as biomedical waste management. For instance, the amount of waste generated during production of pharmaceuticals varies greatly in amount and type (∼200 to 30,000 kg of wastes per kg of active ingredients can be generated), relatively
Funding
Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) under project code FRGS/1/2019/TK10/CURTIN/02/2.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Kehinde Shola Obayomi: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing Original draft preparation. Sie Yon Lau: Supervision, Validation, Resources. Ibitogbe Enoch Mayowa: Writing, Reviewing and Editing. Michael K. Danquah: Writing, Reviewing and Editing. Jianhua Zhang: Writing, Reviewing and Editing. Tung Chiong: Writing, Reviewing and Editing. Takeo Masahiro: Writing, Reviewing and Editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledge the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), Malaysia for providing the research funding under project code FRGS/1/2019/TK10/CURTIN/02/2. We also thank Curtin University Malaysia for providing research facility and financial support for the project. The authors also acknowldge Curtin Malaysia Postgraduate Research Scholarship (CMPRS) for the financial support.
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