Cellulose as a template to fabricate a cellulase-immobilized composite with high bioactivity and reusability

Herein, a new strategy was developed to fabricate an oriented cellulase/chitosan/Fe3O4 composite, which possesses extremely high activity, reusability, and stability. Compared to the conventional methods, herein, cellulase was first mixed with cellulose; this allowed the active-centers of cellulase to combine with cellulose tightly. Then, the cellulase/cellulose mixture was immediately embedded into chitosan (CS) layers, which were coated with Fe3O4 nanoparticles. After hydrolyzing the cellulose, a flexible hollow structure was obtained. The activity of immobilized cellulase was still maintained over 50% even after 15 uses; this indicated that the composite we fabricated herein possessed much higher activity and reusability as compared to those reported in other studies. The promising stability and activity of the immobilized cellulase is very important for practical applications.