Photocatalytic Degradation of Some Typical Antibiotics: Recent Advances and Future Outlooks

Abstract

The existence of antibiotics in the environment can trigger a number of issues by fostering the widespread development of antimicrobial resistance. Currently, the most popular techniques for removing antibiotic pollutants from water include physical adsorption, flocculation, and chemical oxidation, however, these processes usually leave a significant quantity of chemical reagents and polymer electrolytes in the water, which can lead to difficulty post-treating unmanageable deposits. Furthermore, though cost-effectiveness, efficiency, reaction conditions, and nontoxicity during the degradation of antibiotics are hurdles to overcome, a variety of photocatalysts can be used to degrade pollutant residuals, allowing for a number of potential solutions to these issues. Thus, the urgent need for effective and rapid processes for photocatalytic degradation leads to an increased interest in finding more sustainable catalysts for antibiotic degradation. In this review, we provide an overview of the removal of pharmaceutical antibiotics through photocatalysis, and detail recent progress using different nanostructure-based photocatalysts. We also review the possible sources of antibiotic pollutants released through the ecological chain and the consequences and damages caused by antibiotics in wastewater on the environment and human health. The fundamental dynamic processes of nanomaterials and the degradation mechanisms of antibiotics are then discussed, and recent studies regarding different photocatalytic materials for the degradation of some typical and commonly used antibiotics are comprehensively summarized. Finally, major challenges and future opportunities for the photocatalytic degradation of commonly used antibiotics are highlighted.

Preparation of MnO2-Carbon Materials and Their Applications in Photocatalytic Water Treatment

“…According to statistics, approximately 60–90% of antibiotics cannot be completely metabolized by the human or animal body and will be excreted through feces [ 216 , 217 , 218 , 219 ]. These wastes may be dumped directly into wastewater or enter farmland as fertilizer and enter nearby water bodies through rainfall and irrigation [ 220 , 221 ]. Due to the poor biodegradability of most antibiotics, the sustained use of antibiotics makes them stay in the water for a long time, which may generate antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs) and antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARBs), resulting in increased microbial resistance, which poses a potential threat to human health and ecological systems [ 222 , 223 , 224 ].…”

In situ sonochemical synthesis of flower-like N-graphyne/BiOCl0.5Br0.5 microspheres for efficient removal of levofloxacin

“…In recent years, antibiotics have been extensively used as drugs for infectious diseases and are easily released into the environment causing environmental pollution and seriously harm the health of organisms. 1,2 Thus, antibiotic contaminants have attracted extensive attention in environment remediation. Many strategies have been developed for relieving antibiotic pollution, such as photocatalysis, 3 electrocatalysis, 4 thermocatalysis, 5 etc.…”

Effective Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic Degradation of Harmful Antibiotics Using Reduced Graphene Oxide-Zinc Sulfide-Copper Sulfide Nanocomposites as a Catalyst

“…They were developed to limit the mortality rate and boost the immune system of animals and humans . However, only 30% of the developed antibiotics are being used to fight diseases in animals and humans, and the other 70% are badly deflected toward the environment without being metabolized. , Most of the antibiotics in the environment are poorly metabolized and can be consumed by both animals and humans; therefore, their consumption may pose a serious threat to the ecosystem, as well as the spread and development of antibiotic resistance genes and antibiotic-resistant bacteria . An easy method to reduce the propagation of bacterial resistance and the environmental toxicity of antibiotics is by adequately treating wastewater that contains antibiotics before discharging it into the environment …”