Activity of catalase adsorbed to carbon nanotubes: Effects of carbon nanotube surface properties

Nanomaterials have been studied widely as the supporting materials for enzyme immobilization. However, the interactions between enzymes and carbon nanotubes (CNT) with different morphologies and surface functionalities may vary, hence influencing activities of the immobilized enzyme. To date how the adsorption mechanisms affect the activities of immobilized enzyme is not well understood. In this study the adsorption of catalase (CAT) on pristine single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT), oxidized single-walled carbon nanotubes (O-SWNT), and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) was investigated. The adsorbed enzyme activities decreased in the order of O-SWNT>SWNT>MWNT. Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and circular dichrois (CD) analyses reveal more significant loss of α-helix and β-sheet of MWNT-adsorbed than SWNT-adsorbed CAT. The difference in enzyme activities between MWNT-adsorbed and SWNT-adsorbed CAT indicates that the curvature of surface plays an important role in the activity of immobilized enzyme. Interestingly, an increase of β-sheet content was observed for CAT adsorbed to O-SWNT. This is likely because as opposed to SWNT and MWNT, O-SWNT binds CAT largely via hydrogen bonding and such interaction allows the CAT molecule to maintain the rigidity of enzyme structure and thus the biological function.