The interface of biomolecular and nanomaterials has emerged as one of the most appealing areas of focus of research in nanochemistry, materials science and biotechnology. The review gives a detailed overview of the key principles that can regulate the form and behaviour of interfaces between biomolecules and nanomaterials with particular attention to chemical design, assembly, and structure-function relations. The major interaction mechanisms, such as covalent bonding, electrostatic interaction, π–π stacking, hydrogen bonding, and metal ligand coordination, are discussed, where they can play a role in the stability as well as functionality of the interface. Different types of biomolecules (proteins, nucleic acids, peptides and polysaccharides) are studied, and the key nanomaterial platforms are met (metal nanoparticles, carbon-based nanomaterials, semiconductor quantum dots and metal-organic frameworks). The review also addresses interface engineering strategies based on functionalizing surfaces, bio-templating, self-assembling, and stimulus-responsive design. Such complex methods of characterization to investigate nano-bio interfaces and explain their structural and electronic characteristics are also mentioned. Notably, the interface structure/functional performance spectrum of the application is studied in biosensing and nanozyme catalysis, as well as targeted drug delivery and environmental or energy technologies. Lastly, the issues of the complexity of interface, stability, reproducibility, and scalability are considered, and an outlook of the issues in the future is provided with a focus on the role of computational modelling and artificial intelligence to support rational design of the next generation biomolecule-nanomaterial systems.




