3D printed lanthanide-doped Ti4O7 reactive membrane for efficient electrochemical disinfection and degradation of antibiotic resistance genes

Simultaneous removal of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) is absolutely imperative to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment. Herein, suitable dopants of Ti₄O₇ anode from the lanthanide elements were firstly selected to boost Ti₄O₇ electrooxidation ability according to density functional theory simulation. 3D printing technology was further adopted to prepare 3D printed lanthanide-doped reactive electrochemical membrane (REM) electrodes, which could efficiently avoid the problem of membrane clogging in the electrochemical filtration operation and increase the hydroxyl radical yield by 56–442 % compared to Ti₄O₇ REM. We found that complete inactivation (>8.0-log inactivation) of antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli (AR E. coli) was achieved during Nd-Ti₄O₇ REM (1 wt% Nd) treatment in a single pass at 4 mA cm⁻², indicating significant improvement of disinfection efficiency than Ti₄O₇ REM (3.3-log inactivation) operated in same conditions occurred. Morphology characterization results of treated AR E. coli revealed that cytoplasmic leakage in cell membrane perforation was the main inactivation mechanism. In addition, Nd-Ti₄O₇ REM also exhibited better electrooxidation efficiency for ARGs removal, thereby eliminating the spread risk of antibiotic resistance. These findings greatly promoted the preparation and application of Ti₄O₇ REM with highly efficient electrooxidation ability in the treatment of wastewater containing an abundance of antibiotic resistant bacteria.