We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been accepted for publication in Accounts of Materials Research.

Nanozymes, nanomaterials with enzyme-like activities, with high structural stability, adjustable catalytic activity, functional diversity, recyclability and feasibility in large-scale preparation, have become a hot spot in the field of artificial enzymes in recent years, and are expected to become potential surrogates and competitors for natural enzymes in practical applications. With the development of in-depth research and a wide range of application requirements, creating nanozymes with catalytic performance comparable or even surpassing natural enzymes has been the key research topic in this field. Most of the nanozymes reported in the past were obtained based on random synthesis and screening, of which the catalytic efficiency is far inferior to that of natural enzymes. Natural enzymes that have evolved over hundreds of millions of years have developed a lot of high-efficiency catalysis know-how hidden in their structural features. To create highly active nanozymes, we assumed that there is a general structure-activity relationship between nanozymes and natural enzymes, and proposed the nanozyme optimization strategy by grafting the catalytic principles of natural enzymes into the rational design of nanozymes. Based on this bioinspired strategy, a series of nanozymes that exhibit similar catalytic activities that are closer or even beyond those of natural enzymes have been successfully synthesized. By now, rationally designed high-activity bioinspired nanozymes have become a hot topic in the current research on nanozymes.

In this Account, we focus on recent representative research progress in systemic design and construction of bioinspired nanozymes, and are devoted to introducing the strategic concepts in bioinspired optimization of nanozymes. We show that de novo design of nanozymes by simulating the amino acid microenvironment, metal-free architecture and coordination structure of metal active sites in natural enzymes are effective strategies to significantly improve the catalytic performance of nanozymes. A future perspective of the challenges and countermeasures of bioinspired nanozymes is proposed on the basis of these achievements. We hope that the biologically inspired perception will arouse widespread interests in fundamental research and practical applications, as well as provide inspiration for the rational design of nanozymes.