Recently, Associate Professor Chen Hongyu from GXU’s team led by Academician Wang Shuangfei, in collaboration with Professor Ji Hongbing from Zhejiang University of Technology, has made significant strides in the vital research domain of biomimetic catalysis using single-atom nanoenzymes for the ‘Plant Fiber Clean Separation Conversion and Green Preparation of Paper-based Functional Materials’ project.

This breakthrough study, titled Boosting the Catalase-Like Activity of SAzymes via Facile Tuning of the Distances between Neighboring Atoms in Single-Iron Sites, published in the prestigious international comprehensive journal, Angewandte Chemie, explores a groundbreaking approach. Leveraging the inherent structure of natural enzymes, the team employed a mechanical-assisted in-situ MOF encapsulation strategy to construct a dual-star-like structure of single-atom iron nanoenzymes. This innovative methodology provides a fresh perspective and strategy at the atomic level to address the challenge of multifunctional nanoenzyme activity regulation.

The publication not only marks the breakthrough of the School of Light Industry and Food Engineering as the first corresponding unit to publish in Angewandte Chemie but also signifies another vital achievement in presenting high-level research results in an influential international journal.

This paper received substantial support from Associate Professor He Xiaohui from the School of Chemistry at Sun Yat-sen University, Associate Professor He Qian from the School of Light Industry and Food Engineering at Guangxi University, Dr. Liu Xiaohui from the School of Chemical Engineering at Sun Yat-sen University, and Researcher Liao Cangsong from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Moreover, it has been invited for commentary publication on the official WileyChem WeChat account.

Academician Wang Shuangfei’s team, focusing on the ‘Clean Separation, Conversion, and Green Preparation of Plant Fiber-based Functional Materials’ project, is dedicated to the development and application of bio-based materials. In recent years, they have published over 100 SCI papers in renowned international journals like Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, cited more than 3100 times. Their work has garnered recognition, with two papers selected as ESI Hot Papers and eight as ESI Highly Cited Papers.