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Bifunctional Graphene/ γ ‐Fe 2 O 3 Hybrid Aerogels with Double Nanocrystalline Networks for Enzyme Immobilization
Author(s) -
Chen Liang,
Wei Bin,
Zhang Xuetong,
Li Chun
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201202923
Subject(s) - bifunctional , materials science , graphene , glycyrrhizin , calcination , chemical engineering , aerogel , nanocrystalline material , specific surface area , hybrid material , nanotechnology , catalysis , organic chemistry , chemistry , medicine , engineering
Highly porous hosting materials with conducting (favorable to electron transfer) and magnetic (favorable to product separation) bicontinuous networks should possess great potentials for immobilization of various enzymes in the field of biocatalytic engineering, but the synthesis of such materials is still a great challenge. Herein, bifunctional graphene/γ‐Fe 2 O 3 hybrid aerogels with quite low density (30–65 mg cm −3 ), large specific surface area (270–414 m 2 g −1 ), high electrical conductivity (0.5–5 × 10 −2 S m −1 ), and superior saturation magnetization (23–54 emu g −1 ) are fabricated. Single networks of either graphene aerogels or γ‐Fe 2 O 3 aerogels are obtained by etching of the hybrid aerogels with acid solution or calcining of the hybrid aerogels in air, indicative of the double networks of the as‐synthesized graphene/γ‐Fe 2 O 3 hybrid aerogels for the first time. The resulting bifunctional aerogels are used to immobilize β‐glucuronidase for biocatalytic transformation of glycyrrhizin into glycyrrhetinic acid monoglucuronide or glycyrrhetinic acid, with high biocatalytic activity and definite repeatability.