Nanozymes
are a kind of nanomaterial mimicking enzyme catalytic
activity, which has aroused extensive interest in the fields of biosensors,
biomedicine, and climate and ecosystems management. However, due to
the complexity of structures and composition of nanozymes, atomic
scale active centers have been extensively investigated, which helps
with in-depth understanding of the nature of the biocatalysis. Single
atom nanozymes (SANs) cannot only significantly enhance the activity
of nanozymes but also effectively improve the selectivity of nanozymes
owing to the characteristics of simple and adjustable coordination
environment and have been becoming the brightest star in the nanozyme
spectrum. The SANs based sensors have also been widely investigated
due to their definite structural features, which can be helpful to
study the catalytic mechanism and provide ways to improve catalytic
activity. This perspective presents a comprehensive understanding
on the advances and challenges on SANs based sensors. The catalytic
mechanisms of SANs and then the sensing application from the perspectives
of sensing technology and sensor construction are thoroughly analyzed.
Finally, the major challenges, potential future research directions,
and prospects for further research on SANs based sensors are also
proposed.
Natural enzymes are crucial in biological systems and
widely used
in biology and medicine, but their disadvantages, such as insufficient
stability and high-cost, have limited their wide application. Since
Fe3O4 nanoparticles were found to show peroxidase-like
activity, researchers have designed and developed a growing number
of nanozymes that mimic the activity of natural enzymes. Nanozymes
can compensate for the defects of natural enzymes and show higher
stability with lower cost. Iron, a nontoxic and low-cost transition
metal, has been used to synthesize a variety of iron-based nanozymes
with unique structural and physicochemical properties to obtain different
enzymes mimicking catalytic properties. In this perspective, catalytic
mechanisms, activity modulation, and their recent research progress
in sensing, tumor therapy, and antibacterial and anti-inflammatory
applications are systematically presented. The challenges and perspectives
on the development of iron-based nanozymes are also analyzed and discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.