Dr. Xiaohu Xia
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry, Michigan Tech
September 18, 2015
Chem-Sci Room 101 3:00pm
Abstract
Peroxidase mimics (or artificial peroxidase) with dimensions at the nanoscale have received great interest as emerging artificial enzymes for biomedicine and environmental protection. While a variety of peroxidase mimics have been actively developed since 2007, limited progress has been made toward improving their catalytic efficiency. In our recent work (ACS Nano, 2015, in press, DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5b03525), we reported a novel type of peroxidase mimic with record high efficiency. Our peroxidase mimic was engineered by depositing Ir atoms as ultrathin skins (a few atomic layers) on Pd nanocubes (i.e., Pd-Ir cubes). The Pd-Ir cubes exhibited significantly enhanced efficiency that is over 400-fold higher than that of natural peroxidase. In this talk, I will introduce the rational design, experimental synthesis, and mechanistic understanding of such a new peroxidase mimic. At the end, using human prostate specific antigen as a model example, I will highlight the application of our peroxidase mimic in ultrasensitive detection of disease biomarkers.