Figure 4.

Schematic illustration of the catalytic reaction and antibacterial (and antibiofilm) mechanism of nanozybiotics based on nanozymes with peroxidase- or oxidase-like enzyme activities. (a) Nanozymes with peroxidase-like activity catalyze the reduction of H₂O₂ and produce free ·OH. (b) Nanozymes with oxidase-like activity catalyze O₂ to ¹O₂, even single oxygen atoms. Both ·OH and ¹O₂ are strong oxidant, which oxidize the substrate (S) to ox-substrate (S_ox), for example, membrane lipid. (c) Nanozymes with peroxidase- or oxidase-like activity destroy the membrane structure or degrade the biofilm matrix to kill bacteria.