Engineering serpentinite-derived materials for sustainable water remediation: activation pathways, surface engineering, and adsorption–photocatalytic applications—a review

Abstract

The growing deterioration of water quality caused by emerging contaminants has intensified the search for efficient, low-cost, and sustainable remediation materials. Among natural mineral resources, serpentinite has attracted increasing attention because of its abundance, Mg-rich layered silicate structure, hydroxyl-rich surface chemistry, and high potential for physicochemical modification. This review provides a comprehensive and integrative assessment of serpentinite-derived materials as multifunctional platforms for water remediation, linking mineralogical characteristics with material engineering strategies and environmental applications. The review first examines the crystal structure, polymorphism, surface functional groups, charge behavior, and textural properties of serpentine minerals and explains how these features control adsorption reactivity and interfacial interactions with aqueous pollutants. It then analyzes the physicochemical mechanisms governing pollutant removal, including surface complexation, ion coordination, dissolution-assisted immobilization, and precipitation pathways. Particular attention is given to material-engineering strategies that transform raw serpentinite into high-performance remediation materials, including thermal activation, acid and alkali modification, mechanochemical treatment, exfoliation into nanosheets, nanostructuring, and organic or inorganic surface functionalization. These modifications significantly enhance surface area, defect density, reactive hydroxyl environments, and pollutant accessibility, enabling remarkable adsorption capacities and improved catalytic interfaces. The review also highlights the emerging role of serpentinite as a support matrix and precursor for photocatalytic composites, where its surface chemistry facilitates pollutant preconcentration, catalyst dispersion, and charge-transfer processes. The synthesis of recent advances reveals key structure–property–function relationships that govern adsorption and photocatalytic performance and identifies major research opportunities in hybrid systems, emerging contaminant removal, and scalable environmental technologies.