Natural N-Doped Carbon Quantum Dots Derived from Straw and Adhered onto TiO2 Nanospheres for Enhancing the Removal of Antibiotics and Resistance Genes

Bei Yang; Yingliang Yu; Hao Liu; Linzhang Yang; Zulin Hua; Yanfang Feng; Lihong Xue

doi:10.1021/acsomega.2c05979

Natural N-Doped Carbon Quantum Dots Derived from Straw and Adhered onto TiO₂ Nanospheres for Enhancing the Removal of Antibiotics and Resistance Genes

ACS Omega. 2022 Dec 27;8(1):718-725. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c05979. eCollection 2023 Jan 10.

Authors

Bei Yang¹, Yingliang Yu¹, Hao Liu², Linzhang Yang¹, Zulin Hua³, Yanfang Feng¹, Lihong Xue¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province-State Laboratory Breeding Base, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing210014, China.
² Key Laboratory of Water Control in Taihu Lake Basin, Ministry of Water Resources, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing210029, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resources Development of Shallow Lakes, Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing210098, China.

Abstract

Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are emerging environmental contaminants. TiO₂ photocatalytic degradation has been proved an important removal technique, but its photocatalytic ability needs be improved. In our work, natural N-doped carbon quantum dots (N-SCQDs) were extracted from hydrothermal carbonization waste liquid of straw and were attached onto TiO₂ nanospheres for remediating antibiotics [sulfadiazine (SA)] and ARGs (sul1, sul2, and intl1). The maximum SA reduction rates were close to 100%, and the ARG reduction rates were 52.91-83.52%/lg10 (sul1), 32.10-68.23%/lg10 (sul2), and 46.29-76.55%/lg10 (inlt1). The temperature of the straw derivatives would influence their photoelectric properties. N-SCQDs@TiO₂ expands the application range of a novel potential high-efficiency degradation catalyst and offers a new way of hydrothermal carbonization waste liquid of agricultural waste.