Enzyme activity at the flick of a switch

摘要

Joseph Wang at Arizona State University, Tempe, US, and co- workers have used a combination of nanowires and nanotubes to create a switchable bioelectronic device for the on-demand transformation of alcohols to aldehydes. rnWang's system uses nickel-gold nanowires, which have an enzyme trapped halfway along them, in combination with an electrode coated with carbon nanotubes. The orientation of the nanowires in the device can be switched from vertical to horizontal by a magnetic field.