Combining phytoremediation with carbon-based materials under carbon neutral background: Is it a close step to sustainable restoration?

Abstract

Using carbon-based materials (CBMs) to facilitate phytoremediation shows great promise for simultaneously enhancing the restoration efficiency of contaminated soil and reducing carbon dioxide in the context of global warming, which is still in the exploring and attempting phase. In addition to direct degradation or alteration of pollutant bioavailability, CBMs can enhance phytoremediation by alleviating plant nutrient deprivation and oxidative stress, as well as by modulating soil microbial communities and root secretions. Photosynthetic carbon fixation predominantly affects both phytoremediation efficiency and carbon cycle turnover in terrestrial ecosystems. In this regard, CBMs have extremely positive properties in facilitating plant carbon capture, with intrinsic mechanisms including (1) promoting photosynthetic pigment synthesis and acting as artificial built-in antennae to improve photon capture efficiency, (2) accelerating the photosynthetic electron transport rate in photosystems, (3) improving the Calvin cycle, and (4) maintaining the structural integrity of chloroplasts. Besides, as an ultra-stable type of CBM derived from waste biomass, biochar can preserve the native biomass carbon in the soil environment for decades and attenuate the rhizosphere priming effect by influencing the structure of rhizosphere soil aggregates and microbial communities, thus retarding the native soil organic carbon efflux. This review critically elaborates on the mechanisms by which CBMs assist in improving the efficiency of phytoremediation and their positive effects on the plant-root soil carbon balance. Additionally, a simple full-life cycle analysis encompassing cost analysis as well as ecological, economic, and social benefits is concluded to evaluate the feasibility and sustainability of CBMs-phytoremediation systems.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Carbon-based materials
• phytoremediation
• soil contamination
• carbon capture
• carbon sequestration
• sustainability analysis

HANDLING EDITORS:

• Esther Álvarez-Ayuso and Lena Q. Ma

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Program for the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51879101, 51779090, 51709101, 51809090, 51809293), the National Program for Support of Top-Notch Young Professionals of China (2014), the National Innovative Talent Promotion Program of China (2021), the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT-13R17), Hunan Provincial Science and Technology Plan Project (2018SK20410), and the Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province (2020RC4014, 2019GK4004).