{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,28]],"date-time":"2026-02-28T09:52:47Z","timestamp":1772272367211,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]],"date-time":"2026-02-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1772064000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["82172299"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82172299"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"Hubei Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars","award":["2022CFA068"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022CFA068"]}]},{"name":"Hubei Provincial Public Health Outstanding Young Talents Project, and Chu Tian Excellence Program"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The intensifying global challenges of water scarcity and widespread microbial contamination underscore the urgent need for the development of efficient, chemical-free disinfection technologies. Here, we developed a compact boron-doped diamond (BDD)-based electrochemical water treatment system that generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) in situ and evaluated its antimicrobial performance using ROS-on\/off controls. Bactericidal efficacy was assessed against representative Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli), Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), a clinically relevant Gram-negative pathogen with biofilm-forming and stress-resistant properties. Under ROS-on operation, viable counts were reduced from ~106 CFU\/mL to near the detection limit, corresponding to 5\u20136 log10 reductions across all tested species, whereas ROS-off treatment showed negligible effects. The system retained strong disinfection activity in complex real water matrices, including hand-washing water, laboratory wastewater, and pond wastewater. ROS-treated water also disrupted pre-formed mono-species biofilms in a time-dependent manner, as assessed by crystal violet staining and semi-quantitative biomass analysis. A preliminary mouse exposure assessment did not reveal obvious histopathological abnormalities or hematological changes under the tested conditions. These results demonstrate that BDD-enabled electrochemical ROS water provides a rapid, reagent-free approach for bacterial inactivation and biofilm control, with potential applicability across diverse water-related settings, while acknowledging that further studies on complex natural microbial communities are warranted.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms14030538","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]],"date-time":"2026-02-26T11:23:45Z","timestamp":1772105025000},"page":"538","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Electrochemically Generated ROS Water for Rapid Disinfection and Biofilm Control in Real Waters"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Wending","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathogen Biology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College and State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Severe Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xuerui","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathogen Biology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College and State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Severe Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rongchen","family":"Jin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical College, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yukun","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Xiaomi Smart Home Appliances (Wuhan) Co., Ltd., Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Long","family":"Ren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Xiaomi Smart Home Appliances (Wuhan) Co., Ltd., Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shurong","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Xiaomi Smart Home Appliances (Wuhan) Co., Ltd., Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lianyu","family":"Shan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Xiaomi Smart Home Appliances (Wuhan) Co., Ltd., Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4321-133X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kun","family":"Cai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Health Inspection and Testing, Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Hubei CDC), Wuhan 430079, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1963-839X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yan","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathogen Biology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College and State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Severe Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China"},{"name":"Department of Respiratory Medicine, Wuhan Children\u2019s Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430014, China"},{"name":"Pediatric Respiratory Disease Laboratory, Institute of Maternal and Child Health, Wuhan Children\u2019s Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430014, China"},{"name":"Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Pediatric Genetic Metabolic and Endocrine Rare Diseases, Wuhan 430030, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"486","DOI":"10.1038\/s44221-023-00091-8","article-title":"Moving to a sustainable future for water","volume":"1","author":"Gleick","year":"2023","journal-title":"Nat. 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