journal article·2026-05

Interface‐Engineered C 3 N 4 /TiN Heterostructures for Synergistic Photocatalytic‐Nanozyme ROS Generation and Anti‐Infective Therapy

Huiyan Xu, Santosh Pandit, Longwei Wang, Shadi Rahimi, Zesi Liu, Lihan Cai, Longhua Ding, Wenqing Ma, Aizhu Wang, Hong Liu, Ivan Mijakovic, Xin Yu

Advanced Functional Materials· Volume 36· Issue 36
Publisher page

Abstract

ABSTRACT Bacterial infections have become a serious public health concern, highlighting the urgent need for efficient and safe antibacterial strategies. Functional heterostructure materials combining photocatalytic and nanozyme activities hold great potential for developing novel antibacterial therapies. In this study, ultrasonically exfoliated two‐dimensional (2D) CN (CN) nanosheets were employed as a substrate to uniformly load ultrasmall TiN (TN) nanoparticles, forming C 3 N 4 /TiN (CNT) heterojunctions. The introduction of TN increased the specific surface area, stabilized the interface, and induced significant charge redistribution and orbital hybridization, thereby enhancing the separation and transport of photogenerated carriers and improving photocatalytic reaction kinetics. Peroxidase‐like activity evaluation revealed that CNT exhibited markedly accelerated H 2 O 2 decomposition under light, with lower reaction barriers, strong reactive oxygen species generation, and high substrate affinity. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of photocatalysis and nanozyme activity, the material efficiently killed chloramphenicol‐resistant Escherichia coli and methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in vitro, disrupted bacterial structures, and inhibited biofilm formation. In vivo, the system achieved nearly complete bacterial clearance, promoted inflammation resolution, collagen deposition, and epidermal regeneration, enabling wound healing within nine days. This work reports a scalable, safe, and effective photocatalytic–nanozyme antibacterial platform for treating refractory skin infections.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Advanced Nanomaterials in Catalysis · Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics · Nanocluster Synthesis and Applications

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering University of Jinan Jinan People's Republic of China

Division of Systems and Synthetic Biology Department of Life Sciences Chalmers University of Technology Göteborg Sweden

School of Pharmacy Binzhou Medical University Yantai People's Republic of China

State Key Laboratory of Crystal Material Shandong University Jinan People's Republic of China

Novo Nordisk Foundation Center For Biosustainability Technical University of Denmark Lyngby Denmark

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China · Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province · Taishan Scholar Project of Shandong Province · Novo Nordisk Fonden

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