Photo-/electro-/piezo-catalytic elimination of environmental pollutants

With the rapid development of industry, agriculture and animal husbandry, and the improvement of human living standard, huge amounts of inorganic and organic pollutants are inevitably released to the natural environmental system. The pollutants even at low concentrations are toxic to human beings through the accumulation of food chain, and thereby cause hazardous to human health even diseases. In this review, the recent studies about the catalytic organic pollutants’ degradation and metal radionuclides/ions reduction were summarized. The photocatalytic, electrocatalytic and piezo catalytic elimination of environmental pollutants were reviewed, and the contributions of free active radicals on the catalytic removal of pollutants were discussed in detail. The relationship among the properties of pollutants, structures of catalysts, and environmental conditions was described from advanced spectroscopy characterization analysis and computational calculations. In the end of this review, the possible challenges in the catalytic elimination of pollutants were speculated. This review highlights the application of different catalytic techniques for the efficient removal of pollutants in environmental pollution treatment.