Attapulgite Template for Oxygen Vacancies Boost of Manganese Dioxide Nanozymes With High Oxidase‐Like Activity

Abstract Manganese dioxide (MnO 2 ) nanozymes have high oxidase‐like activity (OXD‐like activity), and template methods are widely used to introduce oxygen vacancies (O v ) for further improvement of OXD‐like activity. However, the current precise templates with high cost and poor biocompatibility impart resistance to MnO 2 nanozymes in biocatalysis applications. Therefore, the development of green templates with economy, biocompatibility, and even edibility is urgently necessary. In this study, attapulgite (ATP) mineral was employed as a natural template to introduce the O v of MnO 2 nanozymes, and the high OXD‐like activity with Michaelis constant (K m ) = 0.14 mM and maximum reaction velocity (V max ) = 4.97 × 10 −6 M·s −1 was achieved. The ─OH control experiments, XPS, and density functional theory (DFT) were used to carefully detect the O v formation mechanism: the ─OH groups on ATP surface weaken the interaction between Mn─O bonds, lowering the energy barrier for O v formation. This work provides a green clay template for MnO 2 nanozymes to achieve high OXD‐like activity through the O v boost.