Abstract
Carbon-based (nano)materials doped with transition metals, nitrogen and other heteroatoms are considered active heterogeneous catalysts in a wide range of chemical processes. Recently they have been scrutinized as artificial enzymes since they can catalyze proton-coupled electron transfer reactions vital for living organisms. Herein, interactions between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and either metal-free N and/or S doped or metal containing Fe–N–S co-doped porous carbons are studied. The Fe- and N-co-doped porous carbons (Fe–N–C) exhibit enhanced affinity toward bacteria as they show the highest adsorption capacity. Fe–N–C materials also show the strongest influence on the bacteria viability with visible toxic effect. Both types of bacteria studied reacted to the presence of Fe-doped carbons in a similar manner, showing a decrease in dehydrogenases activity in comparison to controls. The N-coordinated iron-doped carbons (Fe–N–C) may exhibit oxidase/peroxidase-like activity and activate O2 dissolved in the solution and/or oxygen-containing species released by the bacteria (e.g., H2O2) to yield highly bactericidal reactive oxygen species. As Fe/N/ and/or S-doped carbon materials efficiently adsorb bacteria exhibiting simultaneously antibacterial properties, they can be applied, inter alia, as microbiological filters with enhanced biofouling resistance.
Highlights
Iron is one of the most important transition metals employed by metalloenzymes to facilitate a whole range of life-essential redox processes
We demonstrate for the first time that the Fe- and N-co-doped porous carbons (Fe–N–C) type of heteroatom doped carbon macroparticles induces both the enhanced adhesion of bacteria to the carbon particle surface and the simultaneous loss of viability of the bacterial cells
Our results showed that the obtained Fe- and N-co-doped porous carbon materials possess similar, intriguing properties
Summary
Iron is one of the most important transition metals employed by metalloenzymes to facilitate a whole range of life-essential redox processes. Iron-containing particles exhibit extraordinary, quasi-enzymatic activities, which were discovered during the study on the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the presence of Fe3 O4 nanoparticles [1]. Due to this intriguing enzyme mimic activity, such materials were named nanozymes—nanomaterials with enzyme-like properties [2]. ROS may be generated abiotically when hydrogen peroxide reacts with Fe-containing nanomaterials leading to the production of superoxide radicals ( O2 − ), hydroxyl radicals ( OH), or singlet oxygen species (1 O2 ) This process is similar to the activity of peroxidases, which catalyze the reaction of H2 O2 with organic substrates via ROS generation [3,4,5,6]. The possible antibiotic properties of the nanozymes as well as their implementation for nanotechnology as the ROS determination agents
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