From Food Waste to Functional Nanomaterials: Sustainable Production, Characterization, and Application Trends

Year 2025, Volume: 9 Issue: Special, 337 - 348, 28.12.2025

Didar Üçüncüoğlu , Haluk Korucu

https://doi.org/10.31015/2025.si.33

Abstract

The valorization of food waste, agro-industrial residues and pollutant streams into bio-based reduced graphene oxide represents a promising route for circular material innovation. By combining waste management, green chemistry and nanotechnology, this strategy enables environmentally compatible production of functional nanocarbons. This review evaluates studies published between 2015 and 2025 with a focus on natural reductants and waste enabled electrochemical synthesis pathways. It examines how synthesis parameters affect structural indicators such as ID/IG and C/O ratios, nitrogen speciation, interlayer spacing, surface area and zeta potential, and how these indicators influence functional performance. Bio based reduced graphene oxide is positioned as a versatile material within agri-food environmental systems. Its integration in agriculture supports precision processes, in food applications contributes to active and intelligent packaging systems, and in environmental technologies enhances adsorption, catalysis and membrane separation. Beyond performance, this review considers sustainability and regulatory criteria including process mass intensity, e factor, resource efficiency, migration testing and ecotoxicity. These parameters provide a basis for evaluating scale up potential and safe deployment. The synthesis structure function relationship is analyzed together with environmental and safety considerations to guide responsible development. The discussion highlights critical advances in bio based reduced graphene oxide production and identifies current limitations that must be addressed to enable its wider adoption. The review underscores its potential contribution to decarbonization, resource valorization and sustainable transformation across agri-food environmental systems.

Keywords

Bio-based nanocarbon , Circular economy , Food waste , Natural reducing agents , Reduced graphene oxide , Sustainable agriculture

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