Hydrophobic Microenvironment Engineering of Single-Atom Nanozymes for Proteolysis-Driven Marine Antifouling

The Cu-NC HSA transposes the hydrophobic microenvironment of natural proteases while introducing a spin-polarized d9–d10 Cu active center distinct from the closed-shell Zn site. By integrating biomimetic substrate confinement with an electronically reprogrammed Cu center, this design enables proteolytic catalysis. Active-site structure and spin state of the native protease thermolysin (left). Structure, spin state, and limitations of conventional Cu-based catalysts (upper right). Structure, spin state, and advantages of the biomimetic Cu-NC HSA nanozyme developed in this work (lower right).