Nanozymes

What are they?

Nanozymes are nanomaterials that copy the job of enzymes. They turn one chemical into another, often following the same basic enzyme rules. Nanozymes are cheaper, stronger, and easier to store than natural enzymes. 

Why do they matter?

Natural enzymes can be fragile, expensive, and very sensitive to pH and temperature while nanozymes are stable and flexible. Scientists are able to change their size, shape, or surface, to control how well they work.

What are they made of?

• Metals and oxides: iron oxide, gold, platinum, manganese dioxide, cerium oxide

• Carbon materials: graphene, carbon dots

• MOFs (metal-organic frameworks) with built-in pores

• Single-atom nanozymes where individual metal atoms (like iron or cobalt) are anchored on carbon, giving very high efficiency 

Main types of activity:

• Peroxide-like (POD): Breaks down H₂O and oxides other molecules (common in color tests)

• Oxidase-like (OXD): Uses oxygen to oxidize substrates (like glucose)

• Catalase-like (CAT): Splits H₂O₂ into water and oxygen 

• SOD-like: converts harmful superoxide radicals into safer species

• Many nanozymes combine two or more of these “enxyme-like” roles

Where they are used:

• Sensing: fast, cheap detection of glucose, H₂O₂, toxins, proteins, bacteria, and viruses

• Cancer therapy: make reactive oxygen species, relieve tumor hypoxia, and combine with light or ultrasound to improve treatment in lab models

• Antimicrobial: damage bacterial/fungal membranes with reactive species (nanozybiotics)

• Environmental cleanup: detect and break down pollutants in water

• Energy/biotech add-ons: enzymatic biofuel cells and battery additives

Upcoming challenges:

• Understanding exactly how they work at the atomic level

• Improve specificity so they target only one substrate

• Scale up production safely with clear standards and biosafety testing

• Transitioning from lab studies in cells and animals to using them in the real-world

Nanozymes are tiny, tough, and multifunctional catalysts with huge promise in sensing, medicine, and environmental tech, but they still need better selectivity, safety, and standardization before reaching everyday use.

References:

Wei, Hui, et al. “Nanozymes: A Clear Definition with Fuzzy Edges.” Nano Today, vol. 40, 2021,101269. ScienceDirect,

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1748013221001948

Liu, Yutong, et al. “Recent Advances and Future Perspectives of Nanozymes in CatalyticMedicine.” Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, vol. 12, 2024, Article11562681. PubMed Central, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11562681/

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