Revolutionizing Water Purification: Micromotors in the Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance

 

One of the most important public health issues of the twenty-first century is antimicrobial resistance, which is having an effect all over the world. This dilemma is largely caused by the overuse and abuse of antibiotics in both human healthcare and agriculture, which enables bacteria to develop defense mechanisms against once-effective therapies. Antibiotics are widely present in the environment, especially in water systems, and contribute significantly to the spread of resistant bacteria and antibiotic-resistance genes, in addition to their exploitation. Agricultural runoff, untreated sewage, and pharmaceutical waste are some of the ways that antibiotics and antibiotic resistant bacterias get into water systems. These pollutants have the ability to linger in aquatic habitats for extended periods of time, which fosters the growth and spread of resistance. While helpful in lowering some contaminants, conventional water treatment technologies like filtration, chemical disinfectants, and ultraviolet (UV) light are inadequate to completely eradicate leftover antibiotics or to deal with biofilms. Clusters of bacteria called biofilms, which are covered in a protective extracellular matrix, give microorganisms a strong defense against environmental stressors and drugs. These biofilms act as enduring reservoirs for bacteria resistant to antibiotics because they are frequently found in water distribution systems, such as pipes and tanks. This combination of residual antibiotics and bacterial biofilms in water systems promotes the continuous evolution and proliferation of resistant microorganisms, creating a vicious cycle that makes it more difficult to manage antimicrobial resistance.

Self-propelled micromotors present a novel and promising way to address antimicrobial resistance in water systems, given the shortcomings of existing water treatment techniques. Micromotors are small, self-sufficient machines that can move through water to reach places that are otherwise inaccessible, in contrast to conventional water treatment technologies. This includes intricate settings where traditional techniques are ineffective, like small pipelines, cracks, and surfaces covered with biofilm. They can be deployed more precisely and effectively because of their capacity to move without the assistance of outside forces. A prominent benefit of micromotors is their high surface area-to-mass ratio, which enhances their ability to interact with waterborne pollutants. Micromotors' increased surface area enables them to transport more active chemicals, including catalysts or antimicrobial compounds, which can be utilized to break down antibiotics or disturb bacterial biofilms. Micromotors can also be made to selectively target and break down different kinds of antibiotics and bacteria that are resistant to them, providing a more specialized method of purifying water. Micromotors are more effective than broad-spectrum methods, which treat all contaminants in the same way, because they may target particular contaminants in a water sample. Micromotors can maneuver through difficult environments thanks to their special abilities, which include catalytic propulsion (using hydrogen peroxide, for instance) and the use of magnetic fields. This could be a potential remedy for the shortcomings of conventional treatment systems, which are unable to adequately handle the entire range of bacteria and antibiotics. Their unique capabilities, such as catalytic propulsion (using hydrogen peroxide, for example) or the use of magnetic fields, allow micromotors to navigate challenging environments, offering a potential solution to the limitations of traditional treatment systems that cannot effectively address the full spectrum of antibiotics and bacteria present in real-world water sources.

Micromotors have a lot of potential, but before they can be used in actual water treatment procedures, several obstacles need to be removed. Scaling up the technology to efficiently treat vast amounts of water is one of the most urgent issues. Micromotors can function effectively in controlled laboratory settings where variables like bacterial load and antibiotic concentration can be adjusted. The existence of various and varying contaminants, such as several antibiotics, infections, and other environmental pollutants, presents a far more difficult problem in real water systems. Micromotors must be modified to manage this unpredictability and continue to function well in a variety of real-world scenarios. The expense and practicality of using a large number of micromotors to treat huge amounts of water, particularly in large-scale municipal water treatment systems, provide another substantial hurdle. Furthermore, nothing is known about how micromotors affect the environment. Since they are small-scale devices, they need to be carefully examined to make sure they don't endanger ecosystems or organisms that aren't their intended targets, particularly if they are released into the environment in big quantities. Furthermore, more research is needed to determine their long-term stability in water, taking into account elements like corrosion or degradation, to make sure they can continue to operate efficiently for long stretches of time without endangering the environment. Overcoming these challenges requires interdisciplinary cooperation, bringing together engineers, environmental scientists, microbiologists, and nanotechnologists to optimize micromotors for real-world uses. Through a concerted effort, micromotors could evolve into a game-changing technology for water purification, offering a targeted, efficient, and sustainable solution to fight antimicrobial resistance in water systems.

REFERENCE:

C. C., Escarpa, A., & Sánchez, B. J. (2024). Micromotors for antimicrobial resistance bacteria inactivation in water systems: opportunities and challenges. Environmental Science Nano. https://doi.org/10.1039/d4en00863d