A bioinspired cercosporin/polymethylmethacrylate photocatalyst with high efficiency for decontamination of pharmaceuticals and pathogens

Pharmaceuticals have seriously contaminated aquatic environments and resulted in the formation of drugtolerant bacteria owing to continuous release and accumulation. Therefore, the development of new methods to simultaneously decompose drugs and disinfect pathogens in an environmental-friendly manner with high efficiency is still in great demand. Bioinspired by the great photosensitivity of natural product cercosporin with the ability to efficiently generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) under natural sunlight and its antibacterial activity, here a novel cercosporin/polymethylmethacrylate (CP/PMMA) photocatalyst was rationally developed by incorporating and restricting cercosporin in a green macroporous resin PMMA, which greatly improved the ROS generation efficiency and displayed 97.2-100% photodegradation for broad-spectrum pharmaceuticals, including fluoroquinolones, trimethoprim and chloroquine phosphate, upon 15 W compact fluorescent lamp irradiation. More importantly, this decontamination efficiency was greatly improved, and the decontamination time was substantially shortened in a large-scale assay under natural sunlight. Furthermore, it could inactivate the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. Overall, this work provides new insight into how a multifunctional photocatalyst could be designed using a natural product and macroporous resins for environmental remediation.

Automated summary

A novel cercosporin/polymethylmethacrylate (CP/PMMA) photocatalyst was developed in this study, showing high efficiency in degrading broad-spectrum pharmaceuticals and shortening decontamination time under natural sunlight. Additionally, it demonstrated antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, providing new insights into the design of multifunctional photocatalysts for environmental remediation using natural products and macroporous resins.