Electrospun nanofibres: A new vista for detection and degradation of harmful endocrine-disrupting chemicals

In recent years researchers have become more concerned regarding the presence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in our environment as they have the potential to instigate serious health problems both in human beings as well as marine animals. Conventional methods of treating these EDCs have failed mostly. At this moment electrospun nanofibres have become the `holy grail' in this field. Their multifaceted functions include adsorption, filtration/extraction, detection, and degradation of these harmful chemicals. They have the potential to adsorb up to 357.14 mg/g of heavy metal (Moradi et al., 2018a) and extract as low as 0.007 ng mL(-1) of EDCs (Zhang and Xu, 2017). This review provides a brief account of the conventional methods of treating EDCs and their major drawbacks, followed by a precise introduction on the working parameters of an electrospinning machine and the role of synthesized nanofibre in the treatment of EDCs. Conclusively the challenges and future prospects of these nanofibres in this field have been highlighted. Therefore, this review can show a direction towards a new approach to ejecting EDCs through bridging the gaps in the previous recent works.

Automated summary

Researchers are increasingly concerned about the presence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the environment, with electrospun nanofibres playing a significant role in adsorption, filtration, detection, and degradation of these harmful chemicals. These nanofibres have the potential to help address the challenges in treating EDCs.