Trifunctional Cu‐Mesh/Cu<sub>2</sub>O@FeO Nanoarrays for Highly Efficient Degradation of Antibiotic, Inactivation of Antibiotic‐Resistant Bacteria, and Damage of Antibiotics Resistance Genes
Long Zhao, Wei Zhou, Ming Wen, Qingsheng Wu, Weiying Li, Yongqing Fu, Quanjing Zhu, Sheng Chen, Jiaqi Ran
Abstract
Trifunctional Cu‐mesh/Cu 2 O@FeO nanoarrays heterostructure is designed and fabricated by integrating Cu 2 O@FeO nanoarrays onto Cu‐mesh (CM) via an in situ growth and phase transformation process. It is successfully applied to efficiently mitigate the antibiotic pollution, including degradation of antibiotics, inactivation of antibiotic‐resistant bacteria (ARB), and damage of antibiotics resistance genes (ARGs). Under visible‐light irradiation, CM/Cu 2 O@FeO nanoarrays exhibit a superior degradation efficiency on antibiotics (e.g., up to 99% in 25 min for tetracycline hydrochloride, TC), due to the generated reactive oxygen species (ROS), especially the dominant · O 2− . It can fully inactivate E . coli (HB101) with initial number of ~10 8 CFU mL −1 in 10 min, which is mainly attributed to the synergistic effects of 1D nanostructure, dissolved metal ions, and generated ROS. Meanwhile, it is able to damage ARGs after 180 min of photodegradation, including tetA (vs TC) of 3.3 log 10 , aphA (vs kanamycin sulfate, KAN) of 3.4 log 10 , and tnpA (vs ampicillin, AMP) of 4.4 log 10 , respectively. This work explores a green way for treating antibiotic pollution under visible light.