According to the World Health Organization, more than two billion people in our world use drinking water sources which are not free from pathogens and heavy metal contamination. Unsafe drinking water is responsible for the death of several millions in the 21st century. To find facile and cost-effective routes for developing multifunctional materials, which has the capability to resolve many of the challenges associated with drinking water problem, here, we report the novel design of multifunctional fluorescence-magnetic biochar with the capability for highly efficient separation, identification, and removal of pathogenic superbugs and toxic metals from environmental water samples. Details of synthesis and characterization of multifunctional biochar that exhibits very good magnetic properties and emits bright blue light owing to the quantum confinement effect are reported. In our design, biochar, a carbon-rich low-cost byproduct of naturally abundant biomass, which exhibits heterogeneous surface chemistry and strong binding affinity via oxygen-containing group on the surface, has been used to capture pathogens and toxic metals. Biochar dots (BCDs) of an average of 4 nm size with very bright photoluminescence have been developed for the identification of pathogens and toxic metals. In the current design, magnetic nanoparticles have been incorporated with BCDs which allow pathogens and toxic metals to be completely removed from water after separation by an external magnetic field. Reported results show that owing to the formation of strong complex between multifunctional biochar and cobalt(II), multifunctional biochar can be used for the selective capture and removal of Co(II) from environmental samples. Experimental data demonstrate that multifunctional biochar can be used for the highly efficient removal of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from environmental samples. Reported results also show that melittin, an antimicrobial peptide-attached multifunctional biochar, has the capability to completely disinfect MRSA superbugs after magnetic separation. A possible mechanism for the selective separation of Co(II), as well as separation and killing of MRSA, has been discussed.

中文翻译：

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多功能生物炭，用于高效捕获，鉴定和去除水样中的有毒金属和超级细菌

根据世界卫生组织的数据，我们世界上有超过20亿人使用的饮用水源中没有病原体和重金属污染。不安全的饮用水造成了21世纪数百万人的死亡。为了找到开发能够解决与饮用水问题相关的许多挑战的多功能材料的简便且具有成本效益的途径，在这里，我们报告了具有高效分离功能的多功能荧光电磁生物炭的新颖设计，鉴定并从环境水样本中去除致病性超级细菌和有毒金属。报道了多功能生物炭的合成和表征的细节，该生物炭由于量子限制效应而表现出很好的磁性，并发出明亮的蓝色光。在我们的设计中，生物炭是自然丰富的生物质的一种富含碳的低成本副产品，具有表面化学异质性和通过表面含氧基团具有很强的结合亲和力，已被用于捕获病原体和有毒金属。已经开发出平均大小为4 nm且具有非常明亮的光致发光的生物炭点（BCD），用于鉴定病原体和有毒金属。在当前的设计中，磁性纳米颗粒已与BCD结合使用，通过外部磁场分离后，BCD可将病原体和有毒金属从水中完全去除。报告结果表明，由于多功能生物炭和钴（II）之间形成了很强的络合物，因此多功能生物炭可用于选择性捕获和去除环境样品中的钴（II）。实验数据表明，多功能生物炭可用于高效去除耐甲氧西林的药物来自环境样品的金黄色葡萄球菌（MRSA）。报告的结果还表明，蜂毒肽是一种抗菌肽连接的多功能生物炭，具有在磁分离后完全消毒MRSA超级细菌的能力。已经讨论了选择性分离Co（II）以及分离和杀死MRSA的可能机制。