Construction of a bioinspired laccase-mimicking nanozyme for the degradation and detection of phenolic pollutants

Nanozymes, defined as nanomaterials with enzyme-like activity, have attracted extensive interest in both fundamental and applied research. Laccases are members of the multi-copper oxidases, which are utilized as green catalysts in the environmental catalysis and biochemical industry. In this paper, we report a facile strategy for the preparation of a new class of nanozyme (denoted as CH-Cu) with laccase-like activity inspired by the structure of the active site and the electron transfer pathway of laccase via the coordination of Cu+/Cu2+ with a cysteine (Cys)-histidine (His) dipeptide. The CH-Cu nanozymes exhibit excellent catalytic activity, recyclability and substrate universality and have a similar Km (Michaelis constant) and a higher vmax (maximum rate) than laccase at the same mass concentration. They are robust under a variety of conditions, such as extreme pH, high temperature, long-term storage and high salinity, which can cause severe loss in the catalytic activity of laccase. Higher efficacy of the CH-Cu nanozymes compared with laccase in the degradation of chlorophenols and bisphenols is also demonstrated in a batch reaction. Furthermore, a method for the quantitative detection of epinephrine by a smart phone is established based on the CH-Cu nanozymes. We believe that this nanozyme has promising applications in environmental catalysis and rapid detection and expect that combining key peptides as metal ligands with metal ions to mimic the structure of the catalytic center of a natural enzyme will be a general and important strategy for the design and synthesis of a new type of nanozyme that can be used in various applications.