The worldwide development of agriculture and industry has resulted in contamination of water bodies by pharmaceuticals, pesticides and other xenobiotics. Even at trace levels of few micrograms per liter in waters, these contaminants induce public health and environmental issues, thus calling for efficient removal methods such as adsorption. Recent adsorption techniques for wastewater treatment involve metal oxide compounds, e.g. Fe₂O₃, ZnO, Al₂O₃ and ZnO-MgO, and carbon-based materials such as graphene oxide, activated carbon, carbon nanotubes, and carbon/graphene quantum dots. Here, the small size of metal oxides and the presence various functional groups has allowed higher adsorption efficiencies. Moreover, carbon-based adsorbents exhibit unique properties such as high surface area, high porosity, easy functionalization, low price, and high surface reactivity. Here we review the cytotoxic effects of pharmaceutical drugs and pesticides in terms of human risk and ecotoxicology. We also present remediation techniques involving adsorption on metal oxides and carbon-based materials.

世界范围内农业和工业的发展导致药物，杀虫剂和其他异生素对水体的污染。即使在水中每公升痕量水平只有几微克，这些污染物也会引起公众健康和环境问题，因此需要有效的去除方法，例如吸附。最近的废水处理吸附技术涉及金属氧化物，例如Fe ₂ O ₃，ZnO，Al ₂ O ₃和ZnO-MgO，以及碳基材料，例如氧化石墨烯，活性炭，碳纳米管和碳/石墨烯量子点。在此，金属氧化物的小尺寸和各种官能团的存在允许更高的吸附效率。而且，碳基吸附剂表现出独特的性质，例如高表面积，高孔隙率，易于官能化，价格低和高表面反应性。在这里，我们从人类风险和生态毒理学的角度回顾了药物和农药的细胞毒作用。我们还介绍了涉及吸附在金属氧化物和碳基材料上的修复技术。