Although ceria-based nanostructures have emerged as fascinating materials with diverse biological activities, developing a facile, rapid, and biocompatible method of their preparation remains a major challenge. Herein we describe bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein-directed synthesis of ceria-based nanostructures, including ceria nanoclusters (CNLs), nanoparticles (CNPs), and nanochains (CNHs). Their preparation is simple, one-pot, and performed in a mild reaction condition with a "green" synthetic approach. Most importantly, these three kinds of ceria-based nanostructures can be synthesized in a shape and size controllable manner by tuning the reaction time, temperature, and molar ratio. The formation mechanism shows that growth of these ceria nanostructures is mediated by Ce3+/Ce4+ switchable redox system, reducible disulfide bonds, and unique spatial structures in albumin proteins. More importantly, these albumin-based ceria nanostructures exhibit high superoxide dismutase (SOD) mimetic activity and good biocompatibility, providing a promising prospect in biomedical application.
Keywords: BSA; biocompatibility; ceria nanostructure; green synthesis; metal−protein complex.