Citation: Zijie Xiao, Rujing Wei, Xinying Wang, Qishi Si, Biao Zhang, Junyan Kuang, Wenqian Wang, Chenyi Jiang, Hongtao Shi, Yingzi Zeng, Qiang He, Guan Zhang, Nanqi Ren, Xiaochi Feng. How overwhelming oxidative stress facilitates antibiotic resistant bacteria disinfection and regulation via heterojunction configuration[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(11): 112650. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2026.112650 shu

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

Zijie Xiao ^a ,
Rujing Wei ^b ,
Xinying Wang ^b ,
Qishi Si ^b ,
Biao Zhang ^c ,
Junyan Kuang ^b ,
Wenqian Wang ^b ,
Chenyi Jiang ^b ,
Hongtao Shi ^{b, d} ,
Yingzi Zeng ^b ,
Qiang He ^a ,
Guan Zhang ^b ,
Nanqi Ren ^b ,
Xiaochi Feng ^{b, *,}

a.
Key Laboratory of Eco-environments in Three Gorges Reservoir Region, Ministry of Education, College of Environment and Ecology, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
b.
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Ecology and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China
c.
Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
d.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Water Technology Centre, Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Centre for Control & Treatment of Heavy Metal Pollution, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China

fengxiaochi@hit.edu.cn

Received Date: 22 September 2025
Revised Date: 2 February 2026
Accepted Date: 19 March 2026
Available Online: 20 March 2026

Figures(5)

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.
- Antibacterial activity,
- Metabolism,
- Antibiotic resistance bacteria,
- Dual Z-scheme heterojunction,
- Reactive oxygen species
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沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院沈阳 110142