Unveiling the inhibition of chlortetracycline photodegradation and the increase of toxicity when coexisting with silver nanoparticles.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and antibiotics inevitably co-exist in water environment. Nonetheless, little is known regarding the interactions between AgNPs and antibiotics or the effects of AgNPs on environmental behavior of antibiotics, particularly on sunlight-driven transformation. In the present work, we found that AgNPs obviously inhibit the photochemical decay of chlortetracycline (CTC), and CTC boosts the dissolution of AgNPs.

Photoaging processes of polyvinyl chloride microplastics enhance the adsorption of tetracycline and facilitate the formation of antibiotic resistance.

Microplastics (MPs), antibiotics and microorganism ubiquitously coexist in aquatic environments. MPs inevitably undergo photoaging processes in aquatic environments, affecting the interactions between MPs and antibiotics and the antibiotic resistance of microorganism. In this study, the impact of photoaging processes of MPs on their adsorption behavior of tetracycline (TC) and related formation of antibiotic resistance were investigated.