Nanozymes

Nanozymes are catalytic nanomaterials with enzyme-like characteristics. As an emerging research area in the field of artificial enzymes, nanozymes have attracted researchers’ enormous interest due to their unique properties compared with natural enzymes and classic artificial enzymes. Compared with natural enzymes, nanozymes are advantageous in several aspects, such as low cost, ease of mass production, robustness to harsh environments, high stability, long-term storage, and size/composition dependent activity. Besides,
nanozymes have also shown unique properties compared
with other artificial enzymes in terms of their size-(shape-, structure-, composition-) dependent catalytic activities, integrated (multi-)functions besides catalysis, large surface area for further modification and bioconjugation, smart response to external stimuli, self-assembly capability, etc. Until now, lots of nanomaterials have been explored to mimic various natural enzymes, such as catalase, oxidase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), esterase, nuclease, phosphatase,
protease and ferroxidase. These nanozymes have been extensively investigated for diverse applications in
bionanotechnology, ranging from biosensing and bioimaging to tissue engineering, therapeutics and beyond.

             Adapted from Inorg. Chem. Front., 2016, 3, 41.