Development of innovative materials for antibiotics removal

Abstract

Currently, about 100,000 tons of antibiotics are consumed each year worldwide, and its excessive and indiscriminate use has been causing serious environmental and public health issues, including the increase in antimicrobial resistance (AMR). According to the World Health Organization, AMR is one of the most important public health problems in the XXI century. Therefore, it has become imperative to develop new strategies for the efficient removal of these compounds before they enter the ecosystem. In this sense, this study aims to synthesize and characterize several materials functionalized with ionic liquids (SILs), which have shown to be a promising and low-cost technology. Their ability to adsorb different antibiotics from aqueous solutions and synthetic urine was evaluated, in order to mitigate their environmental impact. The adsorption of tetracycline, a frequently used antibiotic, was evaluated and the synthesized SILs proved to be promising materials for its removal, with removal efficiencies higher than 30%.