Harnessing Graphene for Soil Remediation: Advances, Challenges, and Future Directions in Sustainable Development

Traditional remediation strategies for soil contamination are inadequate due to various technical and economic gaps. Interest in nanomaterials (NMs), particularly two-dimensional (2D) NMs, is growing as these materials have become the essential components of different technologies, including energy storage, biosensors, and environmental remediation owing to large surface area, high surface functionalities, and outstanding electrical and thermal properties. The flourishing field of nanotechnology and NMs has attracted the attention of environmentalists and technologists for their integration into the field of soil remediation, as water remediation has already been studied to a larger extent. Therefore, this review has been designed to explore and analyse the role of graphene, its derivatives and their nanocomposites, one of the most emerging 2D materials in the field of environmental remediation, in mitigating soil contamination. The underlying mechanisms, namely, adsorption and catalytic degradation of the emerging soil pollutants, have been explored along with discussing the studies linked with the real-world implication of this technology. Further, the environmental and health impacts of graphene has also been highlighted, which is accumulated in the soil after reaction. Too optimise the soil remediation process by graphene and its derivatives, the challenges involved have also been discussed along with suggestive future strategies.