Exploring the Specificity of Nanozymes

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Biochemistry
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Nanozymes are nanomaterials with enzyme-like catalytic activities, a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field.
• Over 1200 nanomaterials are known as nanozymes, categorized into oxidoreductases, hydrolases, isomerases, and lyases.
• Catalytic activity and specificity are key metrics for evaluating nanozyme performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To discuss nanozyme specificity in comparison to enzyme catalytic specificity.
• To highlight the existing specificity gap between nanozymes and natural enzymes.
• To propose future research directions for nanozyme specificity.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and synthesis of current research on nanozyme catalytic activity and specificity.
• Comparative analysis of nanozyme and enzyme catalytic specificity.
• Discussion of existing challenges and future perspectives in nanozyme specificity research.

Main Results:

• Substantial progress exists in quantifying nanozyme catalytic activity, but research on specificity is limited.
• A significant specificity gap exists between nanozymes and natural enzymes.
• Current understanding of nanozyme specificity hinders systematic classification and application refinement.

Conclusions:

• Nanozyme catalytic specificity remains underexplored, posing challenges for classification and application.
• Further research is crucial to bridge the specificity gap and develop consensual knowledge.
• Future studies should focus on understanding and optimizing nanozyme specificity for advanced applications.