Division and collaboration: Nanodendrite-electroporation and nanoconfined chlorination for eliminating antibiotic...

Chlorination, applied worldwide, is inefficient to eliminate intracellular antibiotic resistance genes (i-ARGs) due to the protective barriers of cellular envelopes, leading to widespread presence of ARGs in our drinking water. Here, we report a division and collaboration strategy that combines nanodendrite-electroporation to generate permeable pores with nanoconfined Cl₂ to degrade i-ARGs. The collaboration, through nanoconfined chlorine enrichment by three orders of magnitude at dendritic nanotips with locally enhanced electric field, substantially improves electroporation and Cl₂ for rapid and efficient chlorine permeation, gene release, and ARGs degradation. Moreover, heterostructure nanodendrites with mesoporous nanotips further boost cell accessibility, nanoconfinement effect, and chlorine enrichment. Our strategy exhibits ultrahigh and ultrafast i-ARGs removal performance with ratio and rate of 4.5-log (99.997 %) and 13.1 log mM^-1 min^-1, which are 3.3-log higher and 6 times faster than those of current Cl₂ (93.8 %), respectively, while consuming two orders of magnitude less energy than current methods. For practical tap water having low-concentration ARB contamination, this strategy still demonstrates great application reliability over 10 days, completely removing i-ARGs, maintaining long-term stability, and limiting by-products. This strategy with merits of adaptability, high efficiency, and universality for disinfectants paves the way for mitigating ARGs risk in water.