Activation of biologically relevant levels of reactive oxygen species by Au/g-C3N4 hybrid nanozyme for bacteria killing and wound disinfection

As common reactive oxygen species, H 2 O 2 is widely used for bacterial inactivation and wound disinfection . However, the concentrations used are always higher than physiological levels , which frequently result in potential toxicity to healthy tissue and even delay wound healing. Here we report highly efficient nanozyme hybrids that are capable of activating biologically relevant concentrations of H 2 O 2 for defending bacterial infections. The integration of AuNPs with ultrathin graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ) provides excellent peroxidase-activity, which can catalyze the decomposition of H 2 O 2 to OH radicals much more efficiently, allowing the use of bio-safety levels of H 2 O 2 for the first time. Furthermore, our system not only exhibits striking bactericidal performance against both DR Gram-negative and DR Gram-positive bacteria, but also shows high efficiency in breaking down the existing DR-biofilms and prevented formation of new biofilms in vitro. More importantly, in vivo experiments indicate that our system could significantly prevent bacterial infections and accelerate the healing rate of wounds.