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Updated: Aug 5, 2026
08:08
Antimicrobial Characterization of Advanced Materials for Bioengineering Applications
Published on: August 4, 2018
Engineering Catalytic Nanozymes for Antimicrobial Food Systems: Structure-Activity Relationships, Safe-by-Design
Huy Loc Nguyen1, Thi Bich Ngoc Nguyen2
1Department of Engineering and Technology, Van Hien University, Ho Chi Minh City 72419, Vietnam.
Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 27, 2026
Summary
Catalytic nanozymes offer superior antimicrobial properties for food systems. Engineering strategies are key to optimizing their performance and ensuring safe, scalable applications in food preservation and safety.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Food Science
Background:
- Catalytic nanozymes are engineered nanomaterials with enzyme-like activity, stability, and tunable properties, outperforming natural enzymes in food antimicrobial applications.
- Advances enable enhanced nanozymes with high catalytic efficiency, broad-spectrum antimicrobial action, and resilience to food processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically analyze catalytic nanozymes for antimicrobial food systems based on structure-activity relationships.
- To explore how engineering strategies influence catalytic performance, antimicrobial efficacy, and translational potential.
Main Methods:
- Review of engineering principles: compositional tuning, crystal phase/facet engineering, defect creation, heterostructures, pore architecture, surface functionalization, and single-atom engineering.
- Analysis of structure-activity relationships linking engineered features to catalytic mechanisms (peroxidase, oxidase, catalase) and antimicrobial actions (ROS generation, membrane disruption, biofilm eradication).
- Evaluation of applications in food-contact surfaces, packaging, produce preservation, and intelligent processing, alongside a safe-by-design framework.
Main Results:
- Engineering strategies significantly modulate nanozyme catalytic activities and antimicrobial mechanisms.
- Specific structural features correlate with enhanced reactive oxygen species generation, membrane disruption, and pathogen inactivation.
- Applications demonstrate nanozyme potential across various food safety scenarios.
Conclusions:
- A comprehensive framework for rational nanozyme design is established, integrating materials science, catalysis, food microbiology, and safety.
- Safe-by-design principles, AI-assisted design, and high-throughput discovery are crucial for industrial translation.
- Next-generation nanozymes promise sustainable, effective, and industrially viable antimicrobial solutions for food systems.
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