Engineering Photocatalytic Interfaces for the Inactivation of Antibiotic Resistance Bacteria and Genes

초록

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) persist in wastewater as chemically stable contaminants that evade conventional treatment, driving a global health crisis. Photocatalysis offers a promising route to simultaneously inactivate ARB and degrade ARGs. However, its practical implementation stays hindered by fundamental gaps in understanding how material interfaces control their fate. This review critically analyzes the interfacial battlefield, where surface chemistry, charge dynamics, and nanoconfinement determine the efficiency and mechanism of resistance destruction. We establish a quantitative reaction-diffusion framework that reveals why photocatalytic degradation is governed not by bulk-phase kinetics but by coupled transport-adsorption-reaction processes at the nanoscale interface. Through Damkohler analysis, we demonstrate that short-lived reactive oxygen species (ROS, (OH)-O-circle diffusion < 10 nm) impose transport-limited regimes where adsorption and nanoconfinement become as critical as charge separation. We evaluate the dual target challenge: ARB as complex, multi-layered cellular structures requiring membrane disruption, and ARGs as persistent polyelectrolytes demanding complete mineralization. By examining how ROS with distinct lifetimes and diffusion distances operate at material interfaces, we establish that adsorption and nanoconfinement are as critical as charge separation. The review synthesizes recent advances in doping, heterojunction engineering (Z-scheme, S-scheme), defect creation, and carbon-based mediators through the cohesive perspective of interfacial design. Key gaps include unverified eARG mineralization, matrix scavenging, catalyst fouling and regeneration, biofilm and dormant cell formation after sublethal treatment, and insufficient life assessment. A roadmap is proposed toward selective, regenerable, matrix-tolerant and sustainability guided photocatalytic systems for antibiotic-resistance control.

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