Research progress on the removal of pesticides in water by Fe3O4-based adsorbents in the past decade: A review

There are large amounts of residual pesticide in water, which has caused serious environmental problems worldwide and poses a great threat to environmental organisms and human health. Thus, effectively removing pesticides from the water environment is important, among which adsorption has become a promising method due to its low cost, simple operation, rapidity, and convenience. Fe3O4-based adsorbents have attracted much attention due to their magnetic properties, rapid recovery, and various modification methods. This review summarizes various materials (inorganics, polymers, silica, metal-organic frameworks, multi-layer composites) used to construct Fe3O4-based adsorbents for pesticides removal from water environment. On this basis, the effects of adsorbent dosage, adsorption time, temperature, pH, and other factors on the adsorption capacity of Fe3O4-based adsorbents were discussed. The adsorption mechanism is generalized as follows: van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonds, electrostatic interactions, π-π interactions and hydrophobic interactions. Finally, the future challenges and perspectives of Fe3O4-based adsorbents for practical water purification are proposed.