Perovskite as a Promising Candidate for Treating Typical Contaminants in Medical Wastewater: Synthesis, Progress, and Mechanism

Abstract

With the fast development of global medical and health undertakings, medical wastewater has increasingly posed a great threat to human survival and ecosystems. This type of wastewater might contain many components, such as drugs, radioactive substances, heavy metals, etc., making it difficult to meet discharge standards. What is more, although efforts have been made to treat these pollutants, the incomplete degradation of pollutants or secondary pollution during treatment would inevitably complicate the problem. The core limitations of existing technologies lie in their inability to simultaneously achieve high adsorption capacity and thorough mineralization of contaminants, poor removal efficiency for low concentration of pollutants, and weak recyclability of the materials. These issues result in high operational costs and persistent environmental risks. In order to treat medical wastewater, researchers have proposed many methods. As one of the most effective adsorbents and photocatalysts, perovskites offer numerous benefits, including convenient recovery, lower price, high metal site activity, and wide light response range. This report summarizes approaches used to synthesize and modify perovskite. We discuss the application and associated mechanisms involved in remediating medical effluents and removing contaminants. Meanwhile, there will also be a comparison and discussion about effectiveness, limitations, and benefits of each handling approach. In addition, prospects and possible orientations of the perovskite are proposed. Results presented in this review will help researchers in the area of perovskite-based materials to find new research ideas or methods that could be used to synthesize new materials for treating other complex water bodies, which is of great scientific significance and application value for promoting the development of green water treatment technology and realizing the goal of environmentally sustainable development.