Preeti Kaushik, Ruchika Sharma and Lalita Singh
Abstract
An aquatic ecosystem consists of a group of organisms, including plants, animals, and microbes, that interact with one another and their water-based surroundings, which can range from vast oceans to tiny ponds. A broad spectrum of contaminants, which includes heavy metals, excess nutrients, and emerging organic pollutants such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products, increasingly threaten aquatic ecosystems. Conventional remediation technologies often lack sustainability, selectivity, and long-term effectiveness. Therefore, in addition to conventional remediation, green remediation became an option, which includes in situ contaminant degradation and detoxification mediated by microbes and minerals. Understanding and applying the interactions between microbes and minerals at the nanoscale offer promising opportunities to further minimize contaminants. Using semiconductor materials, especially metal oxides, photocatalysis is a sophisticated oxidation process that speeds up chemical reactions when exposed to light. In recent years, microbialâmineral hybrid materials have emerged as an advanced and integrative strategy that combines the metabolic versatility of microorganisms with the physicochemical robustness of mineral substrates. These hybrid systems exhibit enhanced remediation efficiency through synergistic mechanisms, including adsorption, biodegradation, extracellular electron transfer, bio-mineralization, and biofilm-mediated pollutant capture. This review provides a comprehensive and critical analysis of the design principles, functional mechanisms, engineering strategies, and environmental applications of microbialâ mineral hybrid materials in aquatic ecosystem restoration.