Fabrication of dual catalytic microcapsules by mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride (mpg-C3N4) nanoparticle–enzyme conjugate stabilized emulsions

Abstract

Emulsion-templated microcapsules (MCs) were fabricated by simultaneous self-assembly and crosslinking of mpg-C₃N₄ nanoparticles (NPs) and lipase conjugates at an oil–water interface. The presence of both enzymes and mpg-C₃N₄ NPs at the interface makes the MCs an ideal candidate for dual catalysis, i.e. biocatalysis and photocatalysis. The biocatalytic activity of the MCs is found to be 1.2 fold higher compared to that of free enzymes and the visible light-induced dye degradation rate by mpg-C₃N₄-immobilized MCs is 1.7 times higher than that of NPs only. Most importantly, these MCs are capable of performing biocatalytic and photocatalytic activity simultaneously in a mixture of substrate.