Overview and research application of nanozymes in the environmental and medical field

Nanozymes are nanomaterials with enzyme-like properties and are considered as next-generation artificial enzymes. They possess various activities like peroxidase-like activities, oxidase-like activities, catalase-like activities, superoxide dismutase-like activities, hydrolase-like activities, and multi-enzyme-mimicking activities. Nanozymes exhibit both the catalytic properties of enzymes and the features of materials at the nanoscale. Nanozymes are more stable than natural enzymes and can be easily and affordably generated in large quantities. More significantly, their properties are easily customizable to meet a variety of needs. They have several uses in sensing, biomedicine, and environmental remediation because of these benefits and virtues. With an emphasis on the concepts and methodologies based on nanozymes that have been investigated for the sensing of hazardous ions, pesticides, phenolic pollutants, antibiotic residues, and pathogens, we have provided an extensive overview of the growing application of nanozymes in environmental studies. We have presented a comprehensive summary of the emerging use of nanozymes in environmental analysis with emphasis and focus on the nanozyme-based principles and strategies explored for the sensing of toxic ions, pesticides, phenolic pollutants, antibiotic residues, and pathogens. The wide applications of nanozymes in curing diseases, biosensing, and bioimaging are discussed. They should be useful to researchers and designing engineers engaged in this rapidly evolving field to choose the subtopic of their research and for developing the devices using nanozymes.