Visible-Light-Induced Activity Control of Peroxidase Bound to Fe-Doped Titanate Nanosheets with Nanometric Lateral Dimensions

Catalytic performance of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) electrostatically adsorbed on nanometric and semiconducting Fe-doped titanate (FT) nanosheets was successfully manipulated by visible light illumination. A colloidal solution of FT with a narrow band gap corresponding to a visible light region was fabricated through a hydrolysis reaction of metals sources. HRP could be easily bound to the FT at pH = 4 through an electrostatic interaction between them, and the formed HRP-FT was utilized for the visible-light-driven enzymatic reaction. Under exposure to visible light with enough energy for band gap excitation of the FT, catalytic activity of HRP-FT was dramatically enhanced as compared with free (unbound) HRP and was simply adjusted by light intensity. In addition, wavelength dependence of an enzymatic reaction rate was analogous to an optical absorption spectrum of the FT. These results substantiated an expected reaction mechanism in which the photoenzymatic reaction was initiated by band gap excitation of FT followed by transferring holes generated in the valence band of irradiated FT to HRP. The excited HRP oxidized substrates (amplex ultrared: AUR) accompanied by two-electron reduction to regenerate the resting state. In addition, the catalytic activity was clearly switched by turning on and off the light source.