Rapid Visible Light-Driven Water Disinfection with CTAB-Modified UiO-66-NH₂

Water is the most essential resource for life, hence ensuring its universal availability in a rapid and reliable manner is highly desirable. Visible light-based catalytic disinfection is gaining prominence due to its accessibility and exceptional energy efficiency. In this study, we demonstrated that cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)-modified UiO-66-NH2 (CTAB@UiO-66-NH2) effectively harnesses visible light to achieve highly efficient water disinfection. Introducing CTAB into these nanosystems reduced the charge-transfer resistance and facilitated charge separation, enabling efficient generation of reactive oxygen species and ultimately enhancing photocatalytic activity. CTAB@UiO-66-NH2 demonstrated outstanding water disinfection, achieving approximately 6–7 log inactivation of a broad spectrum of bacteria within 20 min under simulated visible light. It also exhibited stable cyclic disinfection performance and good biocompatibility, highlighting broad application prospects. Furthermore, CTAB@UiO-66-NH2 showed promising disinfection performance in real river water, achieving a 2.5 log colony-forming unit reduction of bacteria in Haihe River samples within 20 min of visible light irradiation. Therefore, our study offers a simple and affordable path to rapid access to safe water.