Using Inorganic Nanomaterials to Endow Biocatalytic Systems with Unique Features

The rapid growth in nanotechnology and biotechnology offers a wealth of opportunities for the combination of natural enzymes with different kinds of nanomaterial. Here, we highlight recent advances in constructing nanomaterial-incorporated enzymes that integrate the specific recognition and biocatalytic properties of enzymes with the attractive electronic, optical, magnetic, and catalytic properties of nanomaterials. These composite materials have some extra features that are not possessed by the enzymes themselves, such as electron transfer mediated by nanoparticles, enzyme delivery, remote activation and/or deactivation of enzymatic activity, and fabrication of catalytic entities with complementary functions. Additionally, we describe briefly the current challenges and future development of unique enzyme–nanomaterial hybrid systems. We hope that this review will help to accelerate further progress in this promising field.

TrendsEnzymes and artificial enzyme-catalytic systems can be endowed with new and attractive features by using nanoscale inorganic materials.We discuss the multifunctional nanomaterial-incorporated bio- and biomimetic catalysts and their limitations.We highlight the design and development of multifunctional hybrid catalysts and discuss the challenges and future directions in this highly active field.