Highly efficient degradation of organophosphorus pesticides by bimetallic nanozyme with enhanced hydrogen-bonding interactions

Organophosphorus pesticides pose a serious threat to the environment, necessitating the development of efficient degradation strategies. This study introduces a bimetallic Ce Zr nanozyme engineered through synergistic catalysis. The nanozyme structure was designed with high specific surface area and abundant active sites, optimized for catalytic efficiency. Molecular docking analysis revealed that the bimetallic nanostructure interacts with paraoxon (a model organophosphorus pesticide) through six hydrogen-bonding sites (bond lengths: 2.6–3.2 Å), demonstrating significantly stronger binding than monometallic analogs (five sites, bond lengths: 2.8–3.2 Å). Benefiting from the synergistic effect of Ce 4+ and Zr 4+ nodes, the nanozyme rapidly catalyzes the hydrolysis of paraoxon into less-toxicity p-nitrophenol, achieving degradation of 120 μM paraoxon within 25 min. The nanozyme exhibits excellent stability (>88 % activity retained after 20 days at room temperature) and recyclability (>90 % activity retained after five cycles). This approach offers an efficient strategy for degrading persistent organophosphorus pollutants, with potential for scalable environmental remediation.