One-pot and one-step synthesis of bioactive urease/ZnFe2O4 nanocomposites and their application in detection of ureaElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c4dt00825a

This communication describes a novel environmentally friendly method to prepare bioactive urease/ZnFe 2 O 4 nanocomposites through a one-pot and one-step process. The synthetic procedure is triggered through a biological mineralization process of decomposition of urea catalyzed by urease. During the growth of ZnFe 2 O 4 , urease molecules are immobilized by original ZnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles. As a consequence, the bioactive urease/ZnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticle composites are assembled. This simple route is expected to endow the bioactive nanocomposites with new properties for various interesting fields. This paper describes a simple method to prepare bioactive urease/ZnFe 2 O 4 nanocomposites, and explores their application in sensitive detection of urea.