Biodegradation of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes through Enzymatic Catalysis

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• 作者：Brett L. Allen ; Padmakar D. Kichambare ; Pingping Gou ; Irina I. Vlasova ; Alexander A. Kapralov ; Nagarjun Konduru ; Valerian E. Kagan ; Alexander Star
• 刊名：Nano Letters
• 出版年：2008
• 出版时间：November 12, 2008
• 年：2008
• 卷：8
• 期：11
• 页码：3899-3903
• 全文大小：276K
• 年卷期：v.8,no.11(November 12, 2008)
• ISSN：1530-6992

文摘

We show here the biodegradation of single-walled carbon nanotubes through natural, enzymatic catalysis. By incubating nanotubes with a natural horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and low concentrations of H₂O₂ (∼40 μM) at 4 °C over 12 weeks under static conditions, we show the increased degradation of nanotube structure. This reaction was monitored via multiple characterization methods, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), gel electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, and ultraviolet−visible−near-infrared (UV−vis−NIR) spectroscopy. These results mark a promising possibility for carbon nanotubes to be degraded by HRP in environmentally relevant settings. This is also tempting for future studies involving biotechnological and natural (plant peroxidases) ways for degradation of carbon nanotubes in the environment.