Nanozymes for Environmental Engineering

This book reviews the latest developments and applications of nanozymes  in environmental science. Protection of the environment is essential  because pollution has become a global problem with many adverse effects  on life and ecosystems. For that, remediation strategies and techniques  have been designed, yet they are limited. Here, the recent development  of nanotechnology opens a new vista for environmental remediation. In  particular, nanomaterials displaying enzyme-like activities, named  ‘nanozymes’, appear very promising for environmental monitoring,  contaminant detection, microbial management, and degradation of organic  pollutants. Nanomaterials including metallic, metal oxides and  carbon-based nanoparticles with nanozymes activities have been  synthesized. These nanozymes have similar activities as natural  peroxidase, oxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase enzymes.  Nanozymes have several advantages, yet they suffer from several  limitations such as low catalytic efficiency, less substrate  selectivity, biocompatibility, and lack of engineering of the active  sites.