Ye Hongying, Lai Yongquan, Wu Zhaodi, Li Guizhen, Hua Qingqing, Zhu Wenyuan
Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical and Magneto-Chemical Functional Materials, College of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541006, P. R. China.
Anal Methods. 2025 Aug 7;17(31):6264-6281. doi: 10.1039/d5ay00997a.
Carbon-based nanozymes-a significant subclass of nanomaterials mimicking natural enzyme catalytic functions-offer superior thermal/chemical stability and enhanced biocompatibility compared to natural enzymes and other nanozyme types, owing to their unique carbon matrix. This review comprehensively examines research progress in carbon-based nanozymes. It details their classification into three categories: (1) carbon nanozymes (, fullerenes, graphene, carbon dots, and nanotubes), (2) heteroatom-doped variants (N, P, S, and Se), and (3) metal/metal oxide-supported types, including single-atom nanozymes with M-N-C sites. The primary catalytic mechanisms, focusing on peroxidase (POD)-like and superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activities, alongside oxidase (OXD)-like and catalase (CAT)-like mechanisms, are discussed. Strategies for regulating nanozyme performance-such as size/morphology control, composition/structure tuning (doping and defect engineering), surface modification, biomolecular interactions, and external environment manipulation (pH and temperature)-are highlighted. The review emphasizes the broad applications of carbon-based nanozymes in environmental engineering (pollutant detection/degradation), biosensing (HO, biomolecules, antioxidants, and tumor markers), and biomedicine (antioxidant/anti-inflammatory therapy, tumor treatment, antibacterial/antiviral applications, and bioimaging). Finally, it addresses existing challenges, including relatively lower activity/specificity compared to natural enzymes, limited enzyme-mimicking types, unclear atomic-scale mechanisms, synthesis control difficulties, biocompatibility/safety concerns, and the need for standardized research frameworks. This overview underscores the immense potential and future research directions for carbon-based nanozymes.
碳基纳米酶是一类重要的纳米材料，可模拟天然酶的催化功能。由于其独特的碳基质，与天然酶和其他类型的纳米酶相比，碳基纳米酶具有更高的热稳定性/化学稳定性以及更强的生物相容性。本文综述全面考察了碳基纳米酶的研究进展。详细介绍了其分为三类：（1）碳纳米酶（富勒烯、石墨烯、碳点和纳米管），（2）杂原子掺杂变体（N、P、S和Se），以及（3）金属/金属氧化物负载型，包括具有M-N-C位点的单原子纳米酶。讨论了主要的催化机制，重点是过氧化物酶（POD）样和超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）样活性，以及氧化酶（OXD）样和过氧化氢酶（CAT）样机制。强调了调节纳米酶性能的策略，如尺寸/形态控制、组成/结构调整（掺杂和缺陷工程）、表面修饰、生物分子相互作用以及外部环境调控（pH和温度）。综述强调了碳基纳米酶在环境工程（污染物检测/降解）、生物传感（H₂O₂、生物分子、抗氧化剂和肿瘤标志物）和生物医学（抗氧化/抗炎治疗、肿瘤治疗、抗菌/抗病毒应用和生物成像）中的广泛应用。最后，阐述了现存的挑战，包括与天然酶相比活性/特异性相对较低、模拟酶的类型有限、原子尺度机制尚不清楚、合成控制困难、生物相容性/安全性问题以及对标准化研究框架的需求。本综述强调了碳基纳米酶的巨大潜力和未来研究方向。
