Zhiling Zhu

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Verified

Zhiling verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• Ph.D
• Professor at Qingdao University of Science and Technology

Copper single-atom-loaded graphitic nitride nanozymes (Cu SAs) were constructed by bio-inspired rational design from natural laccase and density functional theory calculations. Theoretical investigation revealed the geometrical and electronic structural advantages of the Cu-N active center. Experimental tests confirmed the excellent performanc...

Marine pollution poses a serious threat to the ecological environment, destroys habitats, reduces biodiversity, and negatively impacts fisheries and human health. Therefore, development of efficient marine antifouling strategies is of great significance. This study introduces manganese selenide nanoflowers (MnSe NFs) as multifamily nanozymes, exhib...

Remodeling of the tumor immune microenvironment and enhancement of antitumor immune responses are necessary to overcome immunotherapy resistance in tumors. However, tumor heterogeneity and complexity of immune evasion mechanisms pose significant therapeutic challenges. Nanozymes exhibit enzyme‐like characteristics and unique nanomaterial properties...

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic gastrointestinal inflammatory disorder with rising prevalence. Due to the recurrent and difficult‐to‐treat nature of UC symptoms, current pharmacological treatments fail to meet patients' expectations. This study presents a machine learning‐assisted high‐throughput screening strategy to expedite the discovery of...

The catalytic efficiency of natural enzymes depends on the precise electronic interactions between active centers and cofactors within a three‐dimensional (3D) structure. Single‐atom nanozymes (SAzymes) attempt to mimic this structure by modifying metal active sites with molecular ligands. However, SAzymes struggle to match the catalytic efficiency...

The catalytic efficiency of natural enzymes depends on the precise electronic interactions between active centers and cofactors within a three‐dimensional (3D) structure. Single‐atom nanozymes (SAzymes) attempt to mimic this structure by modifying metal active sites with molecular ligands. However, SAzymes struggle to match the catalytic efficiency...

Hydrolytic nanozymes have emerged as promising candidates for diverse applications across pharmaceuticals, chemicals, environmental remediation, food, and paper industries. Despite their potential, research on hydrolytic nanozymes remains significantly underdeveloped, accounting for only 14.4 % of all nanozyme studies (1256 papers out of 8737). A c...

Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) presents a significant clinical challenge globally, given its elevated infection risk, substantial treatment costs, and the emergence of drug-resistant strains. Despite extensive clinical endeavors, such as the development of antimicrobial catheters and prophylactic approaches, addressing CAUTI re...

Nanozymes, a distinctive class of nanomaterials endowed with enzyme-like activity and kinetics akin to enzyme-catalysed reactions, present several advantages over natural enzymes, including cost-effectiveness, heightened stability, and adjustable activity. However, the conventional trial-and-error methodology for developing novel nanozymes encounte...

The synergism of piezoelectric catalysis and plasmonic photocatalysis is an effective approach for enhancing the catalytic performance. Nevertheless, challenges remain in addressing the slow interfacial charge transfer rate and the high recombination of energetic hot electrons. In this study, we constructed a heterostructure comprising barium titan...

Ankyrin‐repeat proteins with a suppressor of cytokine signaling box (ASB) proteins belong to the E3 ubiquitin ligase family. 18 ASB members have been identified whose biological functions are mostly unexplored. Here, we discovered that ASB3 was essential for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development and high ASB3 expression predicted poor clinical...

Keratitis, an inflammation of the cornea caused by bacterial or fungal infections, is one of the leading causes of severe visual disability and blindness. Keratitis treatment requires both the prevention of infection and the reduction of inflammation. However, owing to their limited therapeutic functions, in addition to the ocular barrier, existing...

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects millions of individuals worldwide annually. Enteric reactive oxygen species (ROS) play critical roles in the physiology and pathology of IBD. Nanozymes hold great promise for the treatment of IBD because of their exceptional ability to regulate redox homeostasis during ROS‐related inflammation. However, the...

Nanozyme activity relies on surface electron transfer processes. Notably, the piezoelectric effect plays a vital role in influencing nanozyme activity by generating positive and negative charges on piezoelectric materials' surfaces. This article comprehensively reviews the potential mechanisms and practical applications of regulating nanozyme activ...

Treatment of diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) needs to reduce inflammation, relieve hypoxia, lower blood glucose, promote angiogenesis, and eliminate pathogenic bacteria, but the therapeutic efficacy is greatly limited by the diversity and synergy of drug functions as well as the DFU microenvironment itself. Herein, an ultrasound-augmented multienzyme-li...

Nanozymes constitute an emerging class of nanomaterials with enzyme-like characteristics. Over the past 15 years, more than 1200 nanozymes have been developed, and they have demonstrated promising potentials in broad applications. With the diversification and complexity of its applications, traditional empirical and trial-and-error design strategie...

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an important signaling molecule in colorectal cancer (CRC). It is produced in the colon by the catalytic synthesis of the colonocytes' enzymatic systems and the release of intestinal microbes, and is oxidatively metabolized in the colonocytes' mitochondria. Both endogenous H2S in colonic epithelial cells and exogenous H2S...

Wound infection is arguably the most common, and potentially the most devastating, complication of the wound healing process. The ideal treatment strategy has to eliminate bacteria, alleviate inflammation, and promote wound healing and skin formation. Herein, a multifunctional heterostructure is designed consisting of ultrasmall platinum–ruthenium...

Chemodynamic therapy (CDT) employs Fenton catalysts to kill bacteria by converting hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into toxic hydroxyl radical (•OH). Among them, Fenton-type metal peroxide nanoparticles fascinate nanomaterials with intriguing physiochemical properties, but research on this antibacterial agent is still in its infancy. Herein, a distinct Cu...

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is a common form of hair loss, which is mainly caused by oxidative stress induced dysregulation of hair follicles (HF). Herein, a highly efficient manganese thiophosphite (MnPS3) based superoxide dismutase (SOD) mimic was discovered using machine learning (ML) tools. Remarkably, the IC50 of MnPS3 is 3.61 μg·mL-1, up to 1...

Improving the catalytic activity and broadening the scope of nanozymes are prerequisites to supplement or even supersede natural enzymes. However, the discovery of nanozymes is mostly relied on serendipity with limited fine-tunings of chemical composition, which is often incomprehensive and fragmented. Machine learning (ML) is a promising solution...

Graphdiyne (GDY) has been considered as an appealing electrode material for electrochemical sensing because of its alkyne-rich structure and high degrees of π-conjugation, which shows great affinity to heavy metal ions and pollutant molecules via d−π and π−π interactions. However, the low surface area and poor conductivity of bulk GDY limit its ele...

Ferroptosis−apoptosis, a new modality of induced cell death dependent on reactive oxygen species, has drawn tremendous attention in the field of nanomedicine. A metal-free ferroptosis−apoptosis inducer was reported based on boron and nitrogen codoped graphdiyne (BN-GDY) that possesses efficient glutathione (GSH) depletion capability and concurrentl...

Nanozymes are promising new-generation anti-bacterial agents owing to their low cost, high stability, broad-spectrum activity, and minimal antimicrobial resistance. However, the inherent low catalytic activity of nanozymes tends to limit their antibacterial efficacy. Herein, a heterostructure of zinc oxide nanorod@graphdiyne nanosheets (ZnO@GDY NR)...

Carbon based nanozyme is gaining increasingly attentions due to its high stability and tailorable architecture. However, the practical applications are largely restricted by its moderate catalytic activity. External field stimulation and heteroatom doping are two effective strategies for improving enzyme mimic activities. Here, sulfur doped graphdi...

Plasmon stimulation represents an appealing way to modulate enzyme mimic functions, but utilization efficiency of plasmon excitation remains relatively low. To overcome this drawback, a heterojunction composite based on graphdiyne nanowalls wrapped hollow copper sulfide nanocubes (CuS@GDY) with strong localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) resp...

We prepared a biocompatible AuAg nanocages/[email protected] polyethylene glycol (AuAg/[email protected]) composite. The combination of AuAg and GDY to obtain a synergistically enhanced photothermal effect, and the antibacterial effect of GDY and AuAg are used in combined anti-infective therapy. The in vitro antibacterial activity of AuAg/[email pr...

Metal peroxide nanoparticles designed to elevate the oxidative stress are considered a promising nanotherapeutics in biomedical applications, including chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, and bacterial disinfection. However, their lack of specificity towards the therapeutic target can cause toxic side effects to healthy tissues. Here, silver peroxi...

The local concentration effect on the adherence of Escherichia coli 83972 was evaluated using mannosylated PAMAM dendrimers with varying concentrations to immobilize on the surfaces. Results showed no enhancement in adherence by Escherichia coli 83972 using a high local concentration of biphenyl mannoside immobilized on the PAMAM surfaces. The sepa...

Effective electronic interactions between molecular catalysts and supports are critical for heterogeneous enzyme mimics, yet they are frequently neglected in most catalyst designs. Taking the enzyme mimics of hemin immobilized on graphdiyne (Hemin-GDY) as an example, we explicate for the first time the underlying role of GDY as a co-catalyst. Based...

The abuse of conventional antibiotics leads to increasing bacterial resistance. Nanozyme is a new kind of ultra-efficient and safe nanomaterial with intrinsic enzyme-like activities, showing remarkable potential as a next generation nanobactericide. Graphdiyne (GDY) is a burgeoning 2D carbon allotrope with intriguing physicochemical properties, hol...

Silver nanomaterials represent one of the most efficient and promising strategies for bacterial disinfection considering the growing resistance threats of conventional antibiotics. Ultrasmall silver nanocluster (Ag NC) is the most exciting next generation silver based nanomaterial with intriguing physiochemical properties of sub-2 nm core size and...

Graphdiyne (GDY) as an emerging carbon nanomaterial has attracted increasing attention because of its uniformly distributed pores, highly π-conjugated, and tunable electronic properties. These excellent characteristics have been widely explored in the fields of energy storage and catalysts, yet there is no report on the development of sensors based...

Multifunctional enzymatic nanomaterials (nanozymes) with good biocompatibility, strong enzymatic activity, and substrate specificity are the desired alternatives to natural enzymes. Here, the design of a peroxidase mimetic nanozyme capable of detecting and depleting glutathione (GSH) in the bacterial cells is presented. The nanozyme palladium-iron...

Gold nanoclusters decorated amine-functionalized graphene oxide (Au-GO-NH2) nanosheets were designed as a highly efficient visible light active antibacterial agent. This assembled nanosheet is positively charged and of high specific surface area that captures bacteria through physical adsorption and electrostatic interaction. Under visible light ir...

From manufacture to disposal, the interaction of graphdiyne based nanomaterials with living organisms is inevitable and crucial. However, the cytotoxic properties of this novel carbon nanomaterial are rarely investigated, and the mechanisms behind their cytotoxicity are totally unknown. In this study, the antibacterial activity of graphdiyne (GDY)...

Conventional drug delivery systems face unsatisfactory loading efficiency, poor biological bypass, and uncontrollable release, which are great barriers for improving the treatment of many diseases. Herein, a proof-of-concept of a fluorous biphase drug delivery system (FB-DDS) trigged by low frequency ultrasound (LFUS) was proposed for the first tim...

Prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) over long-term usage of urinary catheters remains a great challenge. Bacterial interference using nonpathogenic bacteria, such as E. coli 83972, have been investigated in many pilot-scale clinical studies as a potentially nonantibiotic based strategy for CAUTI prevention. We have dem...

We report a facile synthesis of ternary [email protected] core-shell nanoparticles (C-SNPs). Au NPs with 15 nm in diameter served as seeds, Pd²⁺ and Ni²⁺ were co-reduced on the surface of Au NPs to obtain C-SNPs. These C-SNPs exhibited outstanding catalytic performance (5891 mA mgPd⁻¹) and stability for ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR). The activit...

Ultrasmall silver nanoclusters (Ag NCs) are one of the emerging and highly efficient antibacterial agents, owing to the unique features of sub-2 nm particle size and the high abundance of the active Ag+ species. However, practical applications of Ag NCs in biological environment are often hampered by silver oxidization, which results in particle ag...

A deep understanding on the luminescence property of aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) featured metal nanoclusters (NCs) is highly desired. This paper reports a systematic study on enhancing the luminescence of AIE‐featured Au NCs, which is achieved by Ag doping to engineer the size/structure and aggregation states of the AuI‐thiolate motifs in th...

Statement of significance: In bacterial interference, the non-pathogenic Escherichia coli strains are sluggish to form biofilms on the catheter surfaces, due to rapid removal by urine flow. We have demonstrated a solution to this bottleneck by pre-functionalization of mannosides on the silicone surfaces to promote E. coli biofilm formation. A pre-...

Ancillary ligands, especially the tripodal ligands such as tris(triazolylmethyl)amines, have been widely used to accelerate the Cu-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC, a “click” reaction). However, the relationship between the activity of these Cu(I) complexes and their stability against air oxidation and ligand dissociation/exchange was se...

Tris(triazolylmethyl)amine ligands (TL) are widely used to accelerate the CuI-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction, but its mechanistic role remains unclear. Using electro-spray ionization mass spectrometry, for the first time we detected the trinuclear TL-CuI3-acetylide and the dinuclear TL-CuI2-acetylide complexes in aqueous solu...

In this work, we developed a simple method to load drugs into commercially available contact lenses utilizing fluorous chemistry. We demonstrated this method using model compounds including fluorous-tagged fluorescein and antibiotic ciprofloxacin. We showed that fluorous interactions facilitated the loading of model molecules into fluorocarbon-cont...

Statement of significance: Bacterial interference is an alternative strategy to fight against device-associated bacterial infections. Pursuing this strategy, we use non-pathogenic bacteria to form a biofilm that serves as a live, protective barrier against pathogen colonization. Herein, we report the first use of preformed probiotic E. coli Nissle...

We demonstrated that the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction could be performed inside live mammalian cells without using a chelating azide. Under optimized conditions, the reaction was performed in human ovary cancer cell line OVCAR5 in which newly synthesized proteins were metabolically modified with homopropargylglycine...

In this work perfluorinated substrates fabricated from SiO2 glass slides are modified with oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) units for long-term resistance of cell adhesion purposes, based on fluorous interactions and click chemistry. Specifically, fluorous substrates, prepared by treatment of glass slides with 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorodecyltrimethoxysil...

Prevention of pathogenic colonization on medical devices over a long period of time remains a great challenge, especially in a high-nutrient environment that accelerates the production of biomass leading to biofouling of the device. Since biofouling and the subsequent pathogen colonization is eventually inevitable, a new strategy using non-pathogen...