Magnetic rod-based metal-organic framework metal composite as multifunctional nanostirrer with adsorptive,peroxidase-like and catalytic properties

Although magnetic stirring is frequently used to enhance the kinetics for adsorption, chemical and biochemical reactions, the introduction of stirrers inevitably leads to the adsorption of analytes and thus interferes with the efficiency of the chemical process or reaction. In this work, magnetic Fe₃O₄ nanorods with tunable length-to-diameter ratio were synthesized via a hydrothermal method and used as templates for the in-situ depositing of MIL-100(Fe) and gold nanoparticles. Such nanorod-based material can not only function as an adsorbent, nanozyme, and a heterogeneous catalyst for corresponding applications but also serve as a magnetic nanostirrer to enhance kinetics. As a proof-of-concept, the capture of bacteria pathogen, mimic-peroxidase-based colorimetric detection of hydrogen peroxide, and the catalytic reduction of selected organic pollutants were conducted using the as-synthesized Fe₃O₄@MIL-100(Fe)-Au nanostirrer with and without magnetic field. The results show that the rates of bacteria capture, mimetic enzyme reaction and catalysis were tremendously expedited. We believe this magnetic field-assisted approach holds great promise for future applications, because, not only does it eliminate the use of external magnetic stirrers and thereby decrease the risk of foreign pollution but also, is adaptable for nanoscale reaction systems where conventional stirring is not applicable due to size limitations.