Regulation of the oxidase mimetic activity of ceria nanoparticles by buffer composition

Ceria nanoparticles (CNPs) is an important typical nanozyme with multiple enzyme mimetic activities, which could facilitate the oxidation of organic dyes in acidic conditions, because of the oxidase mimetic activity. Usually, the regulation of oxidase mimetic activity is focused on the adjustment of the structure, morphology, composition, surface, and other factors of nanozymes. However, the influence of the surrounding environment is not considered, which is very important during the reaction process. In this work, the oxidase mimetic activity of CNPs in buffer solutions including citric acid, acetic acid and glycine buffer solutions was investigated, with the results that carboxyl group in buffer solution could adsorb the CNPs on the surface to promote the oxidase mimetic activity. Due to the chelation with cerium ion, the enhancement is more significant by molecules with polycarboxylic groups, and the enhancement is more efficient by carboxyl molecules in buffer solution, compared with the modification of the carboxyl groups on the surface, because of the easier operation and smaller steric hindrance. From viewpoint of increasing the oxidase mimetic activity of CNPs, the work is expected to provide references for the selection of the reaction system to optimize the oxidase mimetic activity in bio-detection application.