Photocatalytic Degradation of Profenofos and Triazophos Residues in the Chinese Cabbage, Brassica chinensis, Using Ce-Doped TiO2

Advanced photocatalysis as a viable and sustainable wastewater treatment process: A comprehensive review

In our era, water pollution not only poses a serious threat to human, animal, and biotic life but also causes serious damage to infrastructure and the ecosystem. A set of physical, chemical, and biological technologies have been exploited to decontaminate and/or disinfect water pollutants, toxins, microbes, and contaminants, but none of these could be ranked as sustainable and scalable wastewater technology. The photocatalytic process can harmonize the sunlight to degrade certain toxins, chemicals, microbes, and antibiotics, present in water. For example, transition metal oxides (ZnO, SnO2, TiO2, etc.), when integrated into an organic framework of graphene or nitrides, can bring about more than 90% removal of dyes, microbial load, pesticides, and antibiotics. Similarly, a modified network of graphitic carbon nitride can completely decontaminate petrochemicals. The present review will primarily highlight the mechanistic aspects for the removal and/or degradation of highly concerned contaminants, factors affecting photocatalysis, engineering designs of photoreactors, and pros and cons of various wastewater treatment technologies already in practice. The photocatalytic reactor can be a more viable and sustainable wastewater treatment opportunity. We hope the researcher will find a handful of information regarding the advanced oxidation process accomplished via photocatalysis and the benefits associated with the photocatalytic-type degradation of water pollutants and contaminants.

Combined Transcriptomics and Metabolomics Analysis Reveals Profenofos-Induced Invisible Injury in Pakchoi (Brassica rapa L.) through Inhibition of Carotenoid Accumulation

Profenofos insecticide poses risks to nontarget organisms including mammals and hydrobionts, and its effects on crops are not known. This study examined the invisible toxicity of profenofos on pakchoi (Brassica rapa L.), using transcriptome and metabolome analyses. Profenofos inhibited the photosynthetic efficiency and light energy absorption by leaves and severely damaged the chloroplasts, causing the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Metabolomic analysis confirmed that profenofos promoted the conversion of β-carotene into abscisic acid (ABA), as evidenced by the upregulation of the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway genes: zeaxanthin epoxidase (ZEP), 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED3), and xanthoxin dehydrogenase (XanDH). The inhibitory effects on carotenoid accumulation, photosynthesis, and increased ABA and ROS contents of the leaves led to invisible injury and stunted growth of the pakchoi plants. The findings of this study revealed the toxicological risk of profenofos to nontarget crops and provide guidance for the safe use of insecticides.

Pesticide pestilence: Global scenario and recent advances in detection and degradation methods

Increased anthropogenic activities are confronted as the main cause for rising environmental and health concerns globally, presenting an indisputable threat to both environment and human well-being. Modern-day industrialization has given rise to a cascade of concurrent environmental and health challenges. The global human population is growing at an alarming rate, posing tremendous pressure on future food security, and healthy and environmentally sustainable diets for all. To feed all, the global food production needs to increase by 50% by 2050, but this increase has to occur from the limited arable land, and under the present-day climate variabilities. Pesticides have become an integral component of contemporary agricultural system, safeguarding crops from pests and diseases and their use must be reduce to fulfill the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) agenda . However, their indiscriminate use, lengthy half-lives, and high persistence in soil and aquatic ecosystems have impacted global sustainability, overshot the planetary boundaries and damaged the pure sources of life with severe and negative impacts on environmental and human health. Here in this review, we have provided an overview of the background of pesticide use and pollution status and action strategies of top pesticide-using nations. Additionally, we have summarized biosensor-based methodologies for the rapid detection of pesticide residue. Finally, omics-based approaches and their role in pesticide mitigation and sustainable development have been discussed qualitatively. The main aim of this review is to provide the scientific facts for pesticide management and application and to provide a clean, green, and sustainable environment for future generations.

The photocatalytic process in the treatment of polluted water

Wastewaters often contain toxic organic pollutants with a possible adverse effect on human health and aquatic life upon exposure. Persistent organic pollutants such as dyes and pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and other chemicals are gaining extensive attention. Water treatment utilizing photocatalysis has recently received a lot of interest. Photocatalysis is cutting-edge, alternative technology. It has various advantages, including functioning at normal temperatures and atmospheric pressure, cheap prices, no secondary waste creation, and being readily available and easily accessible. This review presented a comprehensive overview of the advances in the application of the photocatalytic process in the treatment of highly polluted industrial wastewater. The analysis of various literature revealed that TiO₂-based photocatalysts are highly effective in degrading organic pollutants from wastewater compared to other forms of wastewater treatment technologies. The electrical structure of a semiconductor plays a vital role in the photocatalyst's mechanism. The morphology of a photocatalyst is determined by the synthesis method, chemical content, and technical characteristics. The scaled-up of the photoreactors will significantly help in curbing the effect of organic pollutants in wastewater.

Research trends and emerging physical processing technologies in mitigation of pesticide residues on various food products

The application of pesticides enhances food production vastly, and it cannot be prevented; longer fresh produce is contaminated with health-threatening pesticides even though traditional processing methods can remove these pesticides from food surfaces to a certain extent; novel emerging technologies such as cold plasma, ultrasound, electrolyzed water, and pulsed electric field could more effectively dissipate the pesticide content in food without the release of toxic residual on the food surface. The present review focuses on applying emerging technologies to degrade pesticide residues in great utility in the food processing industries. This review also discusses the pesticide removal efficacy and its mechanism involved in these technologies. The oxidation principle in cold plasma is recently gaining more importance for the degradation of pesticide residue in the food processing industries. Analysis of the emerging physical processing methods indicated greater efficacy in eradicating pesticide residues during agriculture processing. Even though the technologies such as EO (99% reduction in dimethoate), ultrasound (98.96% for chlorpyrifos), and irradiation (99.8% for pesticide in aqueous solution) can achieve promising results in pesticide degradation level, the rate and inactivation highly depend on the type of equipment and processing parameters involved in different techniques, surface characteristics of produce, treatment conditions, and nature of the pesticide. Therefore, to effectively remove these health-threatening pesticides from food surfaces, it is necessary to know the process parameters and efficacy of the applied technology on various pesticides.

Melt intercalation technique for synthesis of hetero-metallic@chitin bio-composite as recyclable catalyst for prothiofos hydrolysis

The compatibility of homo-metallic and hetero-metallic bio-composite was promisingly investigated as recyclable catalyst for prothiofos hydrolysis. Chitin as water insoluble biopolymer was functionalized as a template for generation of homo-metallic (Ag@chitin, Au@chitin and Pd@chitin) and hetero-metallic (Au@Ag@chitin, Pd@Ag@chitin and Pd@Au@Ag@chitin) composites, by using melt intercalation technique. Investigation of the compatibility of the synthesized homo-metallic and hetero-metallic bio-composites in hydrolysis of prothiofos was performed and affirmed via HPLC results. Immobilization of Pd in the composites showed perfection in the catalytic performance for prothiofos hydrolysis. Pd@Au@Ag@chitin exhibited the highest hydrolysis result of 99% for prothiofos was hydrolyzed within 150 min with rate constant (k₁) of 24.48 min^-1. After five recycles for Pd@Au@Ag@chitin, the hydrolysis of prothiofos was lowered from 346 mg/g to 269 mg/g with reduction percentage of 22%. The synthesized bio-composite was highly effective as recyclable catalyst and can be easily served in the remediation of pesticides.

Recent Advances of Photocatalytic Application in Water Treatment: A Review

Photocatalysis holds great promise as an efficient and sustainable oxidation technology for application in wastewater treatment. Rapid progress developing novel materials has propelled photocatalysis to the forefront of sustainable wastewater treatments. This review presents the latest progress on applications of photocatalytic wastewater treatment. Our focus is on strategies for improving performance. Challenges and outlooks in this promising field are also discussed. We hope this review will help researchers design low-cost and high-efficiency photocatalysts for water treatment.