AccScience Publishing / AJWEP / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/AJWEP026040019
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Secondary analysis of published data on selenium nanoparticles for heavy metal remediation: Exploratory evidence on synthesis route, particle size, and reported performance

Zhiyi Shi1,2 ,  Guandi He3 ,  Siew Ling Lee1,4*
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1 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
2 Department of Medical Technology, Guizhou Nursing Vocational College, Guiyang, Guizhou, China
3 Department of Agricultural Resource and Environment, College of Agriculture, Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou, China
4 Centre for Sustainable Nanomaterials, lbnu Sina Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
AJWEP, 026040019 https://doi.org/10.36922/AJWEP026040019
Received: 23 January 2026 | Revised: 24 March 2026 | Accepted: 27 March 2026 | Published online: 19 May 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) are emerging as promising agents for the remediation of heavy metal contamination due to their high surface reactivity and removal efficiency. In this study, secondary quantitative data derived from a screened set of 20 published source studies were evaluated, with a smaller subset of sufficiently comparable studies retained for direct exploratory analysis. The reported performance patterns were compared using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The results show that smaller nanoparticles tended to have a higher removal efficiency and adsorption capacity, whereas biogenic and green synthesis routes tended to show relatively better performance compared with plant-based and physical methods. Regression outcomes also indicated a strong negative correlation between nanoparticle size and remediation performance. Nonetheless, the results obtained are early findings, since the set of observations is too small and represents a heterogeneous sample of laboratory investigations, using varied types of heavy metals and exposure conditions. Overall, this study highlights the role of the synthesis pathway and particle size in the documented bioremediation of SeNPs.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
Selenium nanoparticles
Heavy metal bioremediation
Removal efficiency
Adsorption capacity
Nanoparticle size
Secondary data analysis
Funding
This study is funded from Potential Academic Staff Grant from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (Cost centre: QJ130000.2754.03K86).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, Electronic ISSN: 1875-8568 Print ISSN: 0972-9860, Published by AccScience Publishing
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