Antibiotic pollution is an increasingly urgent environmental challenge. Many antibiotics are not fully metabolized by humans or animals and can pass into wastewater, rivers, lakes, and even drinking water sources. Once released, these compounds may persist in the environment, disrupt aquatic ecosystems, and contribute to the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
Now, researchers have developed a rice husk derived biochar catalyst that can completely degrade the antibiotic levofloxacin within just four minutes under mild conditions. The study, published in Biochar, provides both a promising wastewater treatment strategy and new mechanistic insight into how cobalt oxide based catalysts activate peroxymonosulfate, a powerful oxidant used in advanced water purification.
"Antibiotic residues in water are difficult to remove using conventional treatment methods," said corresponding author Dr. Jiafang Xie of the Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences. "Our goal was to design a catalyst that is fast, efficient, and more suitable for real water environments, while also understanding what actually drives the reaction at the active site."
