PNNL

Abstract

Here we characterize a highly efficient approach for protein confinement and enzyme immobilization in NH2- or HOOC- functionalized mesoporous silica (FMS) with pore sizes as large as tens of nanometers. We observed a dramatic increase of enzyme loading in both enzyme activity and protein amount when using appropriate FMS in comparison with unfunctionalized mesoporous silica and normal porous silica. In principle, the general approach described here should be applicable to many enzymes, proteins, and protein complexes since both pore sizes and functional groups of FMS are controllable.