A polymer-coated nanowire sponge-based contact electrocatalytic system for simultaneous disinfection and removal of multiple micropollutants.

Lin, Geng-Sheng; Khan, Arshad; Kaswan, Kuldeep; Wang, Shuai; Sharma, Manish Kumar; Joshi, Ravindra; Ray, Meenakshi; Yang, Ping-Yu et al. · Nat Commun · 2026

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The removal of diverse contaminants in wastewater remains a major challenge due to low treatment efficiencies, high catalyst costs, and risks of residual chemicals. In this work, we introduce a polymer-coated nanowire sponge (PNS) based contact electro-catalysis (CEC) system for achieving the disinfection of microorganisms and the degradation of multiple micropollutants. Under ultrasonic stimulation, PNS facilitates interfacial electron transfer and generates a high rate of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Its synergistic ROS generation and static charge electroporation achieve over 99% disinfection within 3 minutes while degrading dyes, waste tire leachate, and reducing heavy metal ions in wastewater under ambient conditions. The system also exhibits a high hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) production rate of 20.2 ± 0.1 μmol h⁻¹. Furthermore, PNS demonstrates excellent versatility, ease of recovery, and reusability, highlighting its strong potential for both point-of-use and large-scale wastewater treatment applications.