Identifying the degradation pathway and the final by-products is essential, as their ecological risks are pertinent to the advancement of this technology and its potential application in practical environmental pollution treatment. Elucidating the reaction mechanisms of the degradation system represents the most effective strategy for controlling this process. This study thoroughly revealed that indirect oxidation predominates throughout the electrochemical system, while direct oxidation serves a significant auxiliary role under the synergistic influence. It elucidates the critical importance of electron transfer behavior at the electrode surface for pollutant degradation and unveil potential mechanisms underlying primary degradation reactions via integrating charge density differences and Bader atomic charge analysis. In situ electrochemical infrared spectroscopy (In situ EC-FTIR) and density functional calculation (DFT) were used to analyze the final by-product generation path. It further elucidated the correlation between antibiotic resistance gene (ARGs) and binding strength among base pairs. The oxidative stress process of antibiotic resistance bacteria (ARB) was explained in detail. To comprehensively assess the impact of electrochemical treatment on environmental microbial communities, combined horizontal gene transfer (HGT) experiments were conducted to confirm that electrolytically treated wastewater does not induce ecological stress effects on microorganisms. Finally, a small cyclic electrochemical system was employed to evaluate both ecological impacts and economic benefits associated with wastewater treatment, thereby providing a novel theoretical framework for this domain.
Keywords: Antibiotic; Antibiotic resistance bacteria; Calculation model; Electrocatalysis; Swine wastewater treatment.
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