Carbon-based nanozymes for biomedical applications

Nanozymes are nanomaterials with enzyme-like properties that have attracted significant interest owing to their capability to address the limitations of traditional enzymes such as fragility, high cost, and impossible mass production. Over the past decade, a broad variety of nanomaterials have been found to mimic the enzyme-like activity by engineering the active centers of natural enzymes or developing multivalent elements within nanostructures. Carbon nanomaterials with well-defined electronic and geometric structures have served as favorable surrogates of traditional enzymes by mimicking the highly evolved catalytic center of natural enzymes. In particular, by combining the unique electronic, optical, thermal, and mechanical properties, carbon nanomaterials-based nanozymes can offer a variety of multifunctional platforms for biomedical applications. In this review, we will introduce the enzymatic characteristics and recent advances of carbon nanozymes, and summarize their significant applications in biomedicine.