Recent advances in Poly(vinyl alcohol) based composites for water purification applications

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) based composites have emerged as promising materials for water purification and desalination. The high hydrophilicity, mechanical and chemical stability make PVA an excellent core structure for developing functional materials for water purification. When combined with various fillers, such as metal oxides, clays, graphene oxide, and layered hydroxides or cross-linked with functional molecules, PVA forms hybrid systems with greatly improved adsorption efficiency, selectivity, and reusability. The structure of PVA composites can be effectively tuned by the controlled crosslinking and fillings to enhance their ability to capture heavy metals, dyes, pharmaceutical residues, and oil-water mixtures. Various techniques such as electro-spinning, freeze-thawing, and light-assisted polymerization have been successfully used for the preparation of PVA-based materials with high surface area, porosity and mechanical stability. Along with prolific adsorption properties, the PVA-based materials are also known to exhibit remarkable photocatalytic and magnetic properties, hence making them suitable for multifunctional water treatment applications. However, broad implementation of PVA-based materials is limited due to the issues related to leaching, durability and large-scale production. This article discusses about the recent advancements in the PVA-based composites and highlight their emergence as highly adaptable and eco-friendly materials for the highly efficient water purification technologies.