18. Nanozymology: Perspective and Challenges

As introduced in this book, the field of nanozymes has been evidenced a rapid developing since 2007 [1]. The new concept of nanozymes has been internationally recognized as a new generation of artificial enzymes/enzyme mimics. So far, over 300 different types of nanomaterials have been reported with enzymatic activity. Importantly, the mimicking activities are not limited in oxidative-reductive system and have been extended to DNase, protease, and phosphatase. These achievements make it possible for nanozymes to be versatile in practical applications by combing the enzyme-like activities and other nanoscale properties, such as electricity, magnetism, fluorescence, etc. Therefore, as a multifunctional combination, nanozymes will be more powerful than natural enzymes and other traditional enzyme mimics or artificial enzymes by showing their unreplaceable characterizations. We believe nanozymes will represent a new generation of artificial enzymes and provide a wide variety of enzyme mimics by using well-established nanotechnology, this will certainly accelerate the development of nanozymology in basic research and practical applications.