Glyphosate photocatalytic degradation: Exploring trends, innovations and research gaps

Glyphosate, a widely used herbicide, poses significant environmental and health risks due to its persistence in water systems and potential carcinogenicity. Effective remediation strategies are critical. This study reviews recent advances in the photocatalytic degradation of glyphosate, particularly via the use of solar and visible light-active photocatalysts. These catalysts demonstrate an average degradation efficiency of 87.87 %, outperforming UV-active catalysts. Key advancements include hierarchical structures, Z-scheme mechanisms, composite materials, and innovations such as doping with transition metals and integrating plasmonic materials. These approaches have enhanced visible light absorption, charge separation, and overall photocatalytic performance. This review also examines reactor designs, immobilized catalyst systems, and magnetic photocatalysts, which represent steps toward practical applications. Significant research gaps remain, including the need for standardized efficiency metrics, comprehensive degradation pathway studies, scalable reactor designs, and understanding of the influence of water matrix composition on treatment efficiency. The economic feasibility of large-scale deployment, stability under real-world conditions, and influence of environmental factors on photocatalytic performance also require further exploration. Future research directions include optimizing process parameters, exploring hybrid treatment systems, investigating photocatalytic processes under natural light conditions, and developing cost-effective synthesis methods. This study emphasizes the importance of addressing these challenges to develop sustainable and efficient photocatalytic systems for glyphosate remediation in water treatment applications. Comprehensive comparisons between different light sources, more studies utilizing real solar radiation, and pilot-scale experiments are essential to advance the practical application of these technologies. Furthermore, interdisciplinary collaboration will be key to overcoming these challenges.