How overwhelming oxidative stress facilitates antibiotic resistant bacteria disinfection and regulation via heterojunction configuration

Patterns to generating complex and intensified oxidation pathways by activating heterojunctions remains unclear, and the deactivation mechanisms of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) under high oxidative stress also require further elucidation. Herein, a typical ternary heterojunction BiOCl/Bi₅O₇I/Bi₂O₃ completely eliminated ARB within 45 min with antimicrobial resistance inhibition above 80 % and over 20 % reduction in resistant gene dissemination. The synergistic action of multiple reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated from the ternary heterojunction demonstrated superiority efficacy over standalone oxidation pathway from binary heterojunctions. Particularly, the dual Z-scheme configuration illustrated the mechanism of complex ROS generation by energy band measurements and calculations. Extracellular ROS facilitated cell inactivation by cell membrane damage, intracellular ROS accumulation, and cellular repairing ceasing, ultimately establishing a lethal cycle of “ROS burst-repair failure” and metabolic malfunction. This work established a connection between the various oxidation pathways via photocatalysts configuration and the mechanisms responsible for ARB deactivation.