Preparation of novel silica-coated alginate gel beads for efficient encapsulation of yeast alcohol dehydrogenase.

Biomimetic formation has undoubtedly inspired the preparation of novel organic-inorganic hybrid composites. In this study, silica-coated alginate gel beads were prepared by coating the surface of alginate gel beads with silica film derived from tetramethoxysilane (TMOS). The composition and structure of the silica film were characterized by FT-IR and SEM equipped with EDX. The swelling behavior of silica-coated alginate gel beads was studied to be more stable against swelling than that of alginate gel beads. The results showed that silica-coated alginate gel beads exhibited appropriate diffusion property. The effective diffusion coefficient (D(e)) of NADH in silica-coated alginate beads was 1.76 x 10(-10) m2/s, while the effective diffusion coefficient in alginate beads was 1.84 x 10(-10) m2/s. The model enzyme yeast alcohol dehydrogenase (YADH) was encapsulated in silica-coated alginate and pure alginate beads, respectively. Enzyme leakage of YADH in alginate gel beads was determined to be 32%, while the enzyme leakage in silica-coated alginate gel beads was as low as 11%. Furthermore, the relative activity of YADH in alginate gel beads decreased almost to zero after 10 recycles, while the relative activity of YADH in silica-coated alginate gel beads was 81.3%. The recycling stability of YADH in silica-coated alginate gel beads was found to be increased significantly mainly due to the effective inhibition of enzyme leakage by compact silica film.