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Water shortage and pollution are serious challenges for many countries. Nanomaterials are promising new tools for water quality management due to unique physicochemical properties, high economic benefit, high removal efficiency and environmental friendliness. Here we describe four types of nanomaterials used for water treatment: nanofiltration membranes, photocatalytic nanomaterials, adsorption nanomaterials and reducing nanomaterials. We discuss their properties, applications and mechanisms for pollutant removal. We also review nanomaterials used for water quality monitoring, notably nanomaterials used for the detection of trace pollutants and pathogens. These nanomaterials include carbon nanotubes, magnetic nanoparticles, noble metal nanomaterials and quantum dots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decline of fossil fuels is fostering research on carbon–neutral fuels such as nuclear energy, yet uranium supply is limited by actual techniques of uranium extraction from seawater. In particular, biofouling by marine bacteria and adsorbent instability are major drawbacks. Here we synthesized a novel amidoxime-functionalized antibacterial covalent organic framework that displays high stability and inhibits more than 90% the growth of marine bacteria, thus resulting in an enhanced uranium recovery capacity of 6.64 mg/g. Meanwhile, due to its exceptional fluorescence properties, the adsorbent can also be applied to highly sensitive on-site and real-time monitoring of UO22+. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]