s-Block Atomic Calcium Sites Boost Biomimetic Hydrolysis for Personal Protection.

Jiang, Wenxuan; Wu, Yu; Xu, Weiqing; Wang, Jingying; Zhou, Ying; Li, Jian; Yu, Xin; Yang, Wenhong et al. · Nano Lett · 2025

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Organophosphorus compounds (OPs) are highly toxic to neural centers by causing irreversible damage, while the native neurometabolic system of mammals relying on paraoxonase 1 shows less detoxification efficiency. Personal protective equipment integrating nanozyme is promising to construct an artificial OP metabolism system for efficient detoxification, yet a robust nanozyme featuring nearly instantaneous detoxification is still vacant. Herein, a ceria nanozyme anchoring s-block atomic calcium sites (Ca-CeO<sub>2</sub>) is designed by mimicking paraoxonase 1 for OP hydrolytic detoxification with an ultrashort half-life of 1.64 min. The s-block Ca site with a strong Lewis acid is characterized by the broad p orbital, which is easier to couple with the orbital of O atoms in the phosphoryl group and nucleophilic hydroxyl group than the Ce site, enhancing the adsorption and attack on the substrate. Benefiting from the satisfying detoxification efficiency, a Ca-CeO<sub>2</sub> metabolism system is successfully integrated into a protective mask for personal protection.

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