Tuning oxidant and antioxidant activities of ceria by anchoring copper single-site for antibacterial application.

Jiang, Peng; Zhang, Ludan; Liu, Xiaolong; Ye, Chenliang; Zhu, Peng; Tan, Ting; Wang, Dingsheng; Wang, Yuguang

The reaction system of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) catalyzed by nanozyme has a broad prospect in antibacterial treatment. However, the complex catalytic activities of nanozymes lead to multiple pathways reacting in parallel, causing uncertain antibacterial results. New approach to effectively regulate the multiple catalytic activities of nanozyme is in urgent need. Herein, Cu single site is modified on nanoceria with various catalytic activities, such as peroxidase-like activity (POD) and hydroxyl radical antioxidant capacity (HORAC). Benefiting from the interaction between coordinated Cu and CeO2 substrate, POD is enhanced while HORAC is inhibited, which is further confirmed by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Cu-CeO2 H2O2 system shows good antibacterial properties both in vitro and in vivo. In this work, the strategy based on the interaction between coordinated metal and carrier provides a general clue for optimizing the complex activities of nanozymes. Nanozymes used for antibacterial therapy conventionally have complex catalytic activities that cause multiple pathways in parallel and unwanted outcome. Here, the authors report a Cu-CeO2 single site nanozyme in which Cu single site modification can enhance the peroxidase-like activity and inhibit the hydroxyl radical antioxidant capacity of CeO2 to optimise the antibacterial effects.

PEROXIDASE; CERIUM oxides; HYDROXYL group; OXIDANT status; CATALYTIC activity; OXIDIZING agents; COPPER; WATER gas shift reactions

Nature Communications, 2024, Vol 15, Issue 1, p1

2041-1723

Academic Journal

10.1038/s41467-024-45255-6