Borocarbonitride tubulous nanozymes for bacterial colorimetric point-of-care testing and in situ enzymatic/photothermal synergistic inactivation.

As a typical mimic of natural enzymes, carbon-based peroxidase-like nanozymes have developed vigorously recent years, which are widely used in biomedical research. In this paper, borocarbonitride nanotubes (BCNNTs) were synthesized via assembly and pyrolysis of small organic molecules achieving boron (B) and nitrogen (N) co-doping in carbon nanotubes. As non-metallic nanozymes, BCNNTs exhibited high peroxidase-like activity and photothermal conversion capability, which were applied to bacterial colorimetric point-of-care testing (POCT) and in situ synergistic inactivation. By BCNNTs functionalized with specific antibody of Staphylococcus aureus, sensitive visible and rapid POCT of Staphylococcus aureus was accomplished. Right after the bacterial assay, the bacterial inactivation proceeded efficiently owing to both the catalytic decomposition of H2O2 and photothermal disinfection induced by BCNNT nanozymes, that eliminated bacterial contamination and further transmission without delay. The multifunctional BCNNT nanozymes possessed high peroxidase-like activity, photothermal property, good biocompatibility and stability, which had great potentials in food safety testing, environmental monitoring, and microbial control and therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]