Stabilizing Ultrasmall Ceria-Cluster Nanozyme for Antibacterial and Antibiofouling Applications

The generation of undesired biofouling in medical and engineering applications results in a reduction in function and durability. Copying functionalities of natural enzymes to combat biofouling by artificial nanomaterials is highly attractive but still challenged by the inferior catalytic activity and specificity principally because of low densities of active sites. Here, an innovate strategy is demonstrated to stabilize high-density ultrasmall ceria clusters on zirconia for biofouling prevention. Benefiting from the unique structure, CeO₂ @ZrO₂ nanozyme can significantly enhance the haloperoxidase-mimicking activity in catalyzing the oxidation of bromide with H₂ O₂ into biocidal hypobromous acid as a result of abundant defects and surface strong acidity sites, inducing impressive antibacterial and antibiofouling capacity compared with that of pristine CeO₂ . This work is expected to open a new avenue for the rational design of cluster catalysts for various targeting catalytic applications.