Nanomaterials for treating emerging contaminants in water by adsorption and photocatalysis: Systematic review and bibliometric analysis

Abstract Emerging contaminants in the aquatic environment have become a worldwide problem. Conventional wastewater treatment processes are ineffective for eliminating the emerging contaminants at trace concentrations. Nanomaterials possessing novel size-dependent properties, however, have shown great potential for removing these contaminants. Herein we reviewed nanomaterials reported for removing emerging contaminants by adsorption and/or photocatalysis, and their removal capacity, mechanism, and influencing factors are discussed. Meanwhile, a large-scale bibliometric analysis is conducted on the trends of the emerging contaminants, nanoadsorbents, nanophotocatalysts, and related research topics from the literature during 1998–2017.