Nanostructured materials for efficient microplastic cleanup from soil and water: current trends and future prospects

Microplastics (MPs) and their nano-scale counterparts (Nanoplastics, NPs) have emerged as persistent pollutants in both terrestrial and aquatic environments, posing significant risks to ecological systems and human health. The development of engineered nanomaterials offers a promising path for effective remediation of these contaminants due to their high surface area, catalytic activity, and adaptability. This review provides a comprehensive evaluation of current nanomaterial-based strategies employed for the removal of MPs from soil and aqueous systems. Reported recovery rates for these systems range from 80% to 100%, with zinc-based hybrids demonstrating complete recovery under optimized conditions. More realistic MPs removal comparisons by nanosystems need to be established by experiments in more complex ecologically mimicking habitats. The review also assesses the scalability, material recovery, environmental safety, and operational efficiency of these technologies, which is a novelty of this article. By synthesizing current findings, this study outlines both the technical strengths and existing limitations of nanomaterial-enabled remediation systems, offering insight into future directions for engineered solutions in environmental microplastic mitigation.