Surfaces and Modified Surfaces for Controlling the Pollution: Different Approaches

Various pollutions such as air, water, plastic, noise, food waste, soil, and radioactive substance’s pollutions are always a severe problem to the environment and to the humanity. To mitigate this issue, investigations were conducted by different researchers across the globe on several surfaces for their adsorption and desorption properties towards various physical, chemical and biological pollutants, such as particulate matter, heavy metals, oil spillage, micro-organisms, etc. Along with this, ample of surface modification approaches, both for nano structures as well as for bulk structures were tested over last few decades to strive these concerns. So, surfaces such as bulk, nano, patterned, hydrophobic, oleophobic, magnetic, membrane, and polymeric surfaces along with their various modifications are extensively discusses here. These surfaces and modified surfaces have been explored in detail focusing on their diverse environmental remedial applications like adsorption, photo catalytic degradation, oil–water separation and capture, self-cleaning, and anti-microbial/anti-bacterial or anti-foulants properties. Thus, the overall thrust of this chapter will be to provide a detailed outlook on the current status on the environmental remedial strategies especially by making use of various surfaces and modified surfaces and its probable scope in the years ahead.