Recent Advances in Biogenic Nanoparticles for Water Remediation via Drug/Dye Degradation and Heavy Metals Detection

Water pollution has become a major threat globally and is challenging due to widespread industrial and human activities. Various strategies have been considered for the safe use of water or its decontamination. Nanoparticles (NPs)-based methods for water purification have been widely explored, however, have major drawbacks associated with them, like use of harmful chemicals, high energy costs for their synthesis. In recent era, biogenic nanoparticles (BNPs) have drawn the attention because of their cost-effectiveness, environment-friendliness, stability, and scalability. These BNPs show good optical, physical, and chemical properties, and due to these properties, they exhibit photocatalytic activity. BNPs are a reliable choice for degradation of dyes, drugs, and heavy metal detection because of their photocatalytic activity. In this review, various metal-based BNPs, used for degrading dyes, drugs, and heavy metal detection in water, are discussed. Moreover, the mechanism of degradation of dyes, drugs, and heavy metal detection is discussed.