Degradation mechanisms of antibiotics from hospital wastewater treated with cold atmospheric plasma: Insights from atomistic simulations
Abstract
Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) technology has attracted considerable attention in biomedicine due to its potential benefits [1]. Notably, CAP has shown promising ability to significantly reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics, leading to successful degradation [2]. Despite numerous studies in this area, the fundamental mechanisms of interaction between CAP and antibiotics remain elusive. Thus, in this study we focus on elucidating the impact of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by CAP on antibiotics through computer simulations. Specifically, we employ reactive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to examine the interaction between oxygen atoms (a key ROS component) and the amoxicillin molecule, which serves as the model system in our simulations.