Atom-pair engineering of single-atom nanozyme for boosting peroxidase-like activity

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Catalysis

Background:

• Improving metal single-atom nanozyme (SAzyme) activity is crucial but challenging.
• Atom-pair engineering offers a novel strategy for SAzyme development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and investigate atom-pair engineered Zn-SA/CNCl SAzymes.
• To enhance the peroxidase-like activity of SAzymes through catalytic regulators.

Main Methods:

• Simultaneous construction of Zn-N4 catalytic sites and Zn-N4Cl1 catalytic regulators.
• Activity evaluation of SAzymes.
• In vitro and in vivo tumor inhibition studies.
• Density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

Main Results:

• Zn-SA/CNCl SAzyme exhibited significantly boosted peroxidase-like activity (346-fold increase in Vmax).
• The engineered SAzyme demonstrated effective inhibition of tumor cell growth.
• DFT calculations confirmed the role of Zn-N4Cl1 regulators in enhancing catalytic efficiency.

Conclusions:

• Atom-pair engineering with Zn-N4Cl1 catalytic regulators is an effective strategy to improve SAzyme activity.
• This approach holds promise for developing advanced nanozymes for biomedical applications, including cancer therapy.