Removal of Pharmaceutical Pollutants from Wastewater Using Nanomaterials

The rapid development and increasing use of pharmaceutical products have contributed to the contamination of water bodies, as drugs and pharmaceutical residues classified as emerging contaminants are released into aquatic systems, posing a growing environmental problem. Pharmaceuticals frequently detected in urban wastewater, surface water, and reused water include analgesics, antibiotics, anticonvulsants, hormones, antifungals, beta-blockers, and antiepileptics, typically occurring at concentrations ranging from nanograms to micrograms per liter. Because these compounds are biologically active, their presence in the environment raises particular concern even at low concentrations. Conventional wastewater treatment systems were not primarily designed to remove pharmaceutical pollutants and have been reported to be ineffective against several of these compounds. Various techniques, including filtration, biodegradation, photolytic degradation, microextraction, and chemical oxidation, have been applied for their removal, but are limited by high cost and time consumption. Nanomaterials have therefore emerged as a preferred alternative due to their small particle size, high surface area, and favorable interactions with pharmaceutical pollutants, providing more than one removal mechanism within a single material. This review covers the sources of pharmaceutical pollutants and their pathways into wastewater, their occurrence, public health effects, and remediation using nanomaterials including reduced graphene oxide, carbon nanotubes, TiO₂, ZnO, metal–organic frameworks, MXenes, and silver nanoparticles, acting through adsorption, photocatalysis, and advanced oxidation. Reported performance includes tetracycline adsorption capacities exceeding 900 mg/g on magnetic MOF composites, over 90 % ciprofloxacin degradation using Ag-doped ZnO-graphite composites, and up to 98 % ibuprofen removal by functionalized carbon nanotubes. However, limitations such as aggregation, high synthesis cost, incomplete mineralization, and uncertain toxicity of transformation products remain, with most evidence drawn from controlled laboratory systems rather than real wastewater. This review concludes that nanomaterials offer strong potential for pharmaceutical wastewater remediation but require further evaluation for scalability, stability, and safety before practical deployment.