Tuning laccase catalytic activity with phosphate functionalized carbon dots by visible light

The phosphate functionalized carbon dots (PCDs) with high biocompatibility and low toxicity can be used as efficient additives for the construction of laccase/PCDs hybrids catalyst. A series of experiments indicated that the activity of laccase/PCDs was higher than that of free laccase (increased by 47.7%). When laccase/PCDs hybrids catalyst was irradiated with visible light (laccase/PCDs-Light), its activity was higher than that of laccase/PCDs hybrids without light irradiation (increased by 92.1%). In the present system, the T1 Cu in laccase was combined with the phosphate group on PCDs, which can increase binding capacity of laccase/PCDs hybrids and substrate. Further, the visible light irradiation increased the donating and accepting electronic capability of the laccase/PCDs hybrids, improving their catalytic activity.