Enhanced stability of immobilized xylanase with nano‑zinc oxide/ethyl cellulose composite carrier for efficient xylan hydrolysis

Haitao Gui; Beibei Liu; Zhicheng Zhang; Houzhen Lu; Zifu Ni; Zhongke Sun; Yanli Qi; Dapeng Wu; Le Wang; Qipeng Yuan

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2026.150313

Enhanced stability of immobilized xylanase with nano‑zinc oxide/ethyl cellulose composite carrier for efficient xylan hydrolysis

Food Chem. 2026 Jul 4:524:150313. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2026.150313. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Haitao Gui¹, Beibei Liu¹, Zhicheng Zhang¹, Houzhen Lu¹, Zifu Ni¹, Zhongke Sun¹, Yanli Qi¹, Dapeng Wu², Le Wang³, Qipeng Yuan⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Biological Engineering, Institute of Biomass Science and Engineering, Henan University of Technology, 450001 Zhengzhou, China.
² School of Environment, Henan Normal University, 453001 Xinxiang, China.
³ School of Biological Engineering, Institute of Biomass Science and Engineering, Henan University of Technology, 450001 Zhengzhou, China. Electronic address: wanglely1984@163.com.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, 100029 Beijing, China.

PMID: 42413376
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2026.150313

Abstract

APTES-functionalized ZnO nanoparticles with abundant surface polar groups were prepared via APTES modification. The nanoparticles were blended with ethyl cellulose (EC) solution and fabricated into composite fibers by electrospinning, followed by crosslinking with 2% glutaraldehyde to construct the APTES-ZnO/EC-CL immobilization carrier. Compared with the EC, the composite carrier achieved a higher specific surface area of 0.629 m²/g, improved hydrophilicity with a water contact angle of 113.0°, and enhanced thermal stability with merely 3% weight loss below 300 °C. With the porous structure, sufficient active sites, favorable biocompatibility, and enriched polar groups, the carrier was used for covalent immobilization of xylanase. The immobilized enzyme presented elevated catalytic efficiency, an increased V_max value, over 76% residual activity after ten batches, as well as prominent thermal and pH stability. It offers a feasible route to synthesize high-performance carriers and provides novel perspectives for biomass-based material utilization and high-stability biocatalyst development in industrial biotransformation.

Keywords: Immobilized xylanase; Nano‑zinc oxide/ethyl cellulose; Stability; Xylan.