Consolidating CQDs with NiFe-MOF photo-Fenton membranes to effectively treat wastewater containing antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria

The escalating presence of antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in wastewater poses a pressing threat to both human health and ecosystems. Addressing this challenge requires innovative approaches while photocatalytic membranes emerge as promising solutions because they offer multiple functions to separate and degrade/sterilize antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria simultaneously. In this study, we for the first time developed in-situ grown Ni-Fe metal-organic framework/carbon quantum dot (NiFe-MOF/CQD) membranes with NiFe-MOF seeds pre-integrated into the substrates. The incorporation of CQDs not only enhances the hydrophilicity and integrity of NiFe-MOF membranes that results in both a high water flux of 119.7 L m −2 h −1  bar −1 and a high antibiotic rejection of 98.1% to rifampicin, but also promotes the photo-Fenton activity by enhancing the visible light absorption and photoelectrons (e − )-holes (h + ) separation. Therefore, the degradation efficiency of rifampicin in a photo-Fenton system within 100 min by NiFe-MOF/CQD composites (84.9%) surpasses that of NiFe-MOFs (63.1%). Additionally, NiFe-MOF/CQDs can effectively inactivate both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria in the photo-Fenton system. The supreme separation performance of NiFe-MOF/CQD membranes and photo-Fenton activity of NiFe-MOF/CQDs underscore the significant potentials of the newly invented photocatalytic membranes in treating wastewater containing antibiotic and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.