Degradation of extracellular antibiotic resistance gene through singlet oxygen produced by carbon nanotubes-activated persulfate.

Extracellular antibiotic resistance gene (eARG) has emerged as a global crisis in recent years, yet commonly used disinfectants have proven ineffective for their elimination. Seeking to enhance the degradation efficiency of eARG, this study explored the potential of carbon nanotubes-activated persulfate (CNTs + PS) system as a novel method for eradicating eARG. Our findings demonstrated that CNTs + PS effectively disrupted the intact structure of eARG, inhibited their genetic replication and horizontal transfer capability, achieving remarkable degradation of eARG contamination. Further experiments revealed that 1O2 played a predominant role in eARG degradation, while electron transfer played minor roles in the degradation process. The carbonyl groups served as the primary sites for activating PS to generate 1O2. CNTs can enhance the efficiency of electron transfer from eARG to PS. Moreover, the degradation efficacy of eARG by CNTs + PS was influenced by various factors including the dosage ratio between CNTs and PS, initial concentrations of eARG, pH values, inorganic anions and humic substances and water matrix. Reusability experiment demonstrated that CNTs + PS exhibited stable degradation performance after multiple uses. These findings offer a new perspective for the efficient degradation of eARG in environmental remediation.