A critical review of industry 5.0-enabled nano-catalysts for synergistic air, water, and soil pollution abatement toward environmental sustainability

Environmental remediation has started to take advantage of all the advantages of Industry 5.0: sustainabililty, resilience and human-centric techologies. The role of nanocatalysts has a privileged part on it, as they allow the remediation of numerous pollutants present in atmosphere, water or soils. On this review we analyze this variety through an extensive list of environmental targets, covering from heavy metals and organic species until microplastics, pharmaceutical residues, and various recalcitrant pollutants. After a PRISMA 2020 guideline-compliant search strategy, on a total database of 1,928 records we detected 196 selected articles and 138 reporting data from 01/2020 till 03/2026, we include a study on single atom and bi-metallic catalysts, on the application of MOF based framework materials, stimuli responsive and hybrid nanocatalysts and analyze innovative application involving artificial intelligence, digital twins, Internet of Things integrated sensors and adaptive process control while identify what has been tested on the lab and what remain as only the “smart idea”. To provide a general approach of the comparison between the performance of class of nanocatalyst toward a determined class of polluter within a determined matrix, we propose the SMMRI (Synergistic Multi-Matrix Remediation Index); a method currently undergoing for further developing that help on understanding existing challenges such as stability of nanocatalysts, ability for scaling-up, generation of secondary particles or issues relating the lifecycle and the regulations.