Recent trends and future prospects of nanostructured aerogels in water treatment applications

In recent years, aerogel, an ultra-lightweight, porous nanostructured functional material has attracted significant industrial applications, including polluted water treatment. Their high surface area can be modified to integrate more surface functional groups to become super absorbers for different water pollutants such as heavy metals, oils, organic materials, pesticides, herbicides, toxic and pharmaceutical materials. Significant advances have also been made in the regeneration and reusability of these functional materials, making them smart materials able to respond to specific stimuli. Smart nanostructured aerogels can be designed to reversibly adsorb and desorb a specific water pollutant under various external stimulations. This review comprehensively discusses the evolution, types, and properties of aerogel functional materials. It highlights the modification approaches on aerogels to suit the desired applications of the water treatment field. The review also critically discusses the latest advances of nanostructured aerogels in removing different water pollutants and presents aerogels' future potentials in water treatment applications.