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Nanotechnology for Combating Microbial Contamination. do Nascimento et al

Figure 3: Scheme of the interactions of pollutants, NP, and organisms (algae as an example). (a) Adsorption
and uptake of pollutants, (b) adsorption and uptake of nanoparticles, (c) adsorption (or absorption) of pollutants
onto NP and reduction in pollutant uptake by organisms and (d) adsorption of NP with adsorbed (or absorbed)
pollutant and possible uptake of pollutant-NP (131).

7. Solutions to avoid toxicity More rigorous studies are needed in such a novel appro-
As seen in the earlier section nanoparticles might show ach. In the future, such studies will be very helpful for
the hazardous effect. Therefore, there is a need of fi n- effi ciently removing nanoparticles from contaminated
ding the ways by which the nanotoxicity can be avoi- sewage. Moreover, there is also a need to prevent the
ded and/or reduced. For instance, gold from the soil can potential release of nanomaterials in the environment.
be absorbed by the plants. Gardea-Torresdey (184) has This can be achieved by using the nanomaterials at the
shown that the alfalfa plants can absorb the elemental required concentrations/level. The overexploitation of
gold from the soil. They have further demonstrated the nanomaterials could lead to bioaccumulation in the
formation of gold nanoparticles inside the live plants. aquatic fl ora and fauna thereby disturbing the aquatic
This approach has the potential to remove the metallic life system.
compounds from the environment, especially from the
water bodies. Secondly, Kiser et al (137) explored the 8. Conclusion
use of removal of different nanoparticles from conta- The availability of safe drinking water has become very
minated wastewater. The group has used natural orga- diffi cult in many parts of the world due to their conta-
nic matter (NOM), extracellular polymeric substances mination by means of increasing population and many
(EPS) to adsorb nanoparticles from wastewater. The others. Many laboratories around the globe including
study claimed that the NOM and EPS to be more signi- developed and developing countries are engaged in the
fi cant in biosorption of fullerenes. Furthermore, the au- development of cheaper and effi cient methods for water
thors also added that this approach led to the removal of and wastewater treatments. Although various traditio-
97% AgNPs, 88% of aqueous fullerene, 39% of functio- nal approaches are available for the treatment of water,
nalized AgNPs, 23% of TiO2NPs, and 13% fullerenes. those have their own limitations. Therefore, the fabrica-

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Rev. Asoc. Col. Cienc.(Col.), 2020; 32: 42-62.