Natural N-Doped Carbon Quantum Dots Derived from Straw and Adhered onto TiO(2) Nanospheres for Enhancing the Removal of Antibiotics and Resistance Genes

[Image: see text] Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are emerging environmental contaminants. TiO(2) photocatalytic degradation has been proved an important removal technique, but its photocatalytic ability needs be improved. In our work, natural N-doped carbon quantum dots (N-SCQDs) were extracted from hydrothermal carbonization waste liquid of straw and were attached onto TiO(2) nanospheres for remediating antibiotics [sulfadiazine (SA)] and ARGs (sul1, sul2, and intl1). The maximum SA reduction rates were close to 100%, and the ARG reduction rates were 52.91–83.52%/lg10 (sul1), 32.10–68.23%/lg10 (sul2), and 46.29–76.55%/lg10 (inlt1). The temperature of the straw derivatives would influence their photoelectric properties. N-SCQDs@TiO(2) expands the application range of a novel potential high-efficiency degradation catalyst and offers a new way of hydrothermal carbonization waste liquid of agricultural waste.