Dimensionality Engineering of Single-Atom Nanozyme for Efficient Peroxidase-Mimicking

In nature, enzymatic reactions occur in well-functioning catalytic pockets, where substrates bind and react by properly arranging the catalytic sites and amino acids in a three-dimensional (3D) space. Single-atom nanozymes (SAzymes) are a new type of nanozymes with active sites similar to those of natural metalloenzymes. However, the catalytic centers in current SAzymes are two-dimensional (2D) architectures and the lack of collaborative substrate-binding features limits their catalytic activity. Herein, we report a dimensionality engineering strategy to convert conventional 2D Fe-N-4 centers into 3D structures by integrating oxidized sulfur functionalities onto the carbon plane. Our results suggest that oxidized sulfur functionalities could serve as binding sites for assisting substrate orientation and facilitating the desorption of H2O, resulting in an outstanding specific activity of up to 119.77 U mg-1, which is 6.8 times higher than that of conventional FeN4C SAzymes. This study paves the way for the rational design of highly active single-atom nanozymes.