Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA.
J Phys Chem A. 2011 Sep 1;115(34):9536-44. doi: 10.1021/jp112324d. Epub 2011 Feb 24.
Because of their unique properties, carbon nanotubes and, in particular, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) have been used for the development of advanced composite and catalyst materials. Despite their growing commercial applications and increased production, the potential environmental and toxicological impacts of MWNTs are not fully understood; however, many reports suggest that they may be toxic. Therefore, a need exists to develop protocols for effective and safe degradation of MWNTs. In this article, we investigated the effect of chemical functionalization of MWNTs on their enzymatic degradation with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)). We investigated HRP/H(2)O(2) degradation of purified, oxidized, and nitrogen-doped MWNTs and proposed a layer-by-layer degradation mechanism of nanotubes facilitated by side wall defects. These results provide a better understanding of the interaction between HRP and carbon nanotubes and suggest an eco-friendly way of mitigating the environmental impact of nanotubes.
由于其独特的性质，碳纳米管，特别是多壁碳纳米管（MWNTs），已被用于开发先进的复合材料和催化剂材料。尽管它们的商业应用越来越广泛，产量也在增加，但 MWNTs 的潜在环境和毒理学影响还不完全清楚；然而，许多报告表明它们可能具有毒性。因此，需要开发有效的和安全的 MWNTs 降解方法。在本文中，我们研究了 MWNTs 的化学功能化对辣根过氧化物酶（HRP）和过氧化氢（H2O2）酶促降解的影响。我们研究了纯化、氧化和氮掺杂 MWNTs 的 HRP/H2O2 降解，并提出了一种由侧壁缺陷促进的管层状降解机制。这些结果提供了对 HRP 和碳纳米管之间相互作用的更好理解，并提出了一种减轻纳米管环境影响的环保方法。
