An article mentions collaborative Rice research into artificial enzymes made from treated charcoal conducted by James Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry and a professor of computer science and of materials science and nanoengineering.
C&EN
http://dateline.rice/july-20-tour
https://cen.acs.org/materials/nanomaterials/Inexpensive-GMP-certified-material-makes/98/i28