Encapsulation of enzymes in Layer-by-Layer (LbL) structures: latest advances and applications

Layer-by-Layer (LbL) technology has become an active area of research and is currently considered a hot topic with many potential applications, especially in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical fields. This review is providing an overview of current approaches and applications of LbL designs used to immobilize and/or encapsulate various enzymes. One aim was to show the versatility and the potential of this technique in obtaining different designs and architectures fulfilling a wide range of needs and applications. Another important aim was to shed light on the techniques commonly used to characterize LbL structures and to monitor the process of layer deposition. Special attention was given to LbL structures encapsulating multiple enzymes where the function depends on the sequential activities of encapsulated enzymes.