Medicinal plants and the nano materials they produce against new environmental pollutants: an in-depth review.

Heavy metals, plastic-derived chemicals, and pharmaceuticals remain toxic, harming humans and the environment. Traditional methods for removing pollutants are effective but tedious and not fully successful, and prominent alternative techniques are essential. Several investigations revealed that engineered nanomaterials, plants, and their derived phytochemicals control the fate of emerging contaminants by altering their properties (physical and chemical). Therefore, combining these methods could produce a tool for removing the contaminants. Phytocompounds like alkaloids, terpenoids, and tannins chelate, absorb, and detoxify the contaminants. This gives out phytochemicals that result in the synthesis of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) through an eco-friendly way acting as stabilizers capping agents together with reducing agents hence producing a safer nanoformulation which in turn eases elimination of pollutants. In addition to the polymer, carbon nanomaterials, and metal oxide nanoparticles provide larger surface areas with catalytic, adsorptive, and degradable surfaces that can trap pollutants. Thus, plant-derived products mixed with ENMs will create a synergistic effect that increases the reactivity of nano-formulations and their capacities toward clearing environmental contaminants from soils, sediments, and water. Thus, knowledge about ENMs interactive behavior with plant-associated chemicals is crucial for synthesizing a potential bio-nano remediation method. The current paper provides an in-depth discussion of the combined mechanisms of medicinal plant compounds and nanomaterials that could facilitate pollution impact assessments in a sustainable, nature-based manner.