Nanozymes: nanoparticles that act like enzymes

A radial graphical abstract: one nanoparticle at the hub and four enzyme-like activities around it, each on the material that showed it. Magnetite oxidizes substrates like a peroxidase, gold oxidizes glucose like glucose oxidase, and ceria scavenges superoxide or splits hydrogen peroxide depending on how much Ce³⁺ its surface carries.

1. Peroxidase-like · Fe₃O₄: Magnetite nanoparticles have an intrinsic peroxidase-like activity (Gao et al. 2007); an Fe₃O₄ nanozyme oxidizes TMB to a blue product in the presence of H₂O₂ (Chit et al. 2026). 2. Glucose oxidase-like · gold: Gold nanoparticles act as glucose-oxidase-like nanozymes, self-limited but true catalysts, with only their surface atoms as active sites (Zandieh & Liu 2021); they oxidize glucose into gluconic acid and H₂O₂ (Li et al. 2022). 3. Superoxide dismutase-like · CeO₂ (more Ce³⁺): Vacancy-engineered ceria mimics SOD with a rate constant above the enzyme’s (Korsvik et al. 2007); superoxide scavenging is best with more surface Ce³⁺ (Pirmohamed et al. 2010). 4. Catalase-like · CeO₂ (less Ce³⁺): Ceria with less surface Ce³⁺ breaks hydrogen peroxide down to O₂, the opposite trend to its SOD-like activity (Pirmohamed et al. 2010).

Starting materials: Inorganic nanoparticles once thought inert: magnetite, gold and ceria. Product: Nanozymes with peroxidase-, glucose oxidase-, superoxide dismutase- and catalase-like activity.

Gao et al., “Intrinsic peroxidase-like activity of ferromagnetic nanoparticles”, Nat. Nanotechnol. 2007 (doi:10.1038/nnano.2007.260); Korsvik, Patil, Seal & Self, “Superoxide dismutase mimetic properties exhibited by vacancy engineered ceria nanoparticles”, Chem. Commun. 2007 (doi:10.1039/b615134e); Pirmohamed et al., “Nanoceria exhibit redox state-dependent catalase mimetic activity”, Chem. Commun. 2010 (doi:10.1039/b922024k); Chit et al., “Ultrasensitive ppt-level detection of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) via a hybrid nanozyme, Fe3O4@MWCNTs, with enhanced peroxidase-like activity”, Anal. Chem. 2026 (doi:10.1021/acs.analchem.6c02884); Jiang et al., “Standardized assays for determining the catalytic activity and kinetics of peroxidase-like nanozymes”, Nat. Protoc. 2018 (doi:10.1038/s41596-018-0001-1); Li et al., “Injectable hydrogel based on defect-rich multi-nanozymes for diabetic wound healing via an oxygen self-supplying cascade reaction”, Small 2022 (doi:10.1002/smll.202200165); Zandieh & Liu, “Nanozyme catalytic turnover and self-limited reactions”, ACS Nano 2021 (doi:10.1021/acsnano.1c07520); Wei & Wang, “Nanomaterials with enzyme-like characteristics (nanozymes): next-generation artificial enzymes”, Chem. Soc. Rev. 2013 (doi:10.1039/c3cs35486e); Wu et al., “Nanomaterials with enzyme-like characteristics (nanozymes): next-generation artificial enzymes (II)”, Chem. Soc. Rev. 2019 (doi:10.1039/c8cs00457a).

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