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Antibiotic concentrations in wastewater generated by industries such as sewage treatment plants, medical pharmaceuticals and aquaculture has exceeded acceptable levels. It is particularly urgent to seek a method that can efficiently remove antibiotics. The removal potential of three quinolone antibiotics, pefloxacin (PF), levofloxacin (LF) and norfloxacin (NF), in simulated contaminated water was studied using a biochar-based nanomaterial prepared by a hydrothermal method. The data were fitted with adsorption kinetics, isotherms and thermodynamics. The results showed that ZnS–MoS2 activated biochar (ZMMBC) acheived maximum adsorption amounts of 199.42, 125.00 and 142.58 mg g–1 for PF, LF and NF, suggesting that ZMMBC has excellent adsorption performance. The adsorption mechanisms of PF, LF and NF molecules on ZMMBC include complexation, pore filling, π–π interactions, electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bond interactions. MoS2 and ZnS modified biochar (ZMMBC) was synthesised by hydrothermal method. The removal potential of pefloxacin (PF), levofloxacin (LF) and norfloxacin (NF) was studied. It only takes 90 min for ZMMBC to reach its maximum adsorption capacity. The adsorption behaviour mainly includes complexation, pore filling, π–π interactions, electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding interactions. (Image credit: Y.-J. Gan.) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]