Plasmonic photothermal activation of an organosilica shielded cold-adapted lipase co-immobilised with gold nanoparticles on silica particles

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), owing to their intrinsic plasmonic properties, are widely used in applications ranging from nanotechnology and nanomedicine to catalysis and bioimaging. Capitalising on the ability of AuNPs to generate nanoscale heat upon optical excitation, we designed a nanobiocatalyst with enhanced cryophilic properties. It consists of gold nanoparticles and enzyme molecules, co-immobilised onto a silica scaffold, and shielded within a nanometre-thin organosilica layer. To produce such a hybrid system, we developed and optimized a synthetic method allowing efficient AuNP covalent immobilisation on the surface of silica particles (SPs). Our procedure allows to reach a dense and homogeneous AuNP surface coverage. After enzyme co-immobilisation, a nanometre-thin organosilica layer was grown on the surface of the SPs. This layer was designed to fulfil the dual function of protecting the enzyme from the surrounding environment and allowing the confinement, at the nanometre scale, of the heat diffusing from the AuNPs after surface plasmon resonance photothermal activation. To establish this proof of concept, we used an industrially relevant lipase enzyme, namely Lipase B from Candida Antarctica (CalB). Herein, we demonstrate the possibility to photothermally activate the so-engineered enzymes at temperatures as low as −10 °C.