Which is Better for Nanomedicines: Nanocatalysts or Single‐Atom Catalysts?

Abstract

With the rapid advancements in nanotechnology and materials science, numerous nanomaterials have been used as catalysts for nanomedical applications. Their design and modification according to the microenvironment of diseases have been shown to achieve effective treatment. Chemists are in pursuit of nanocatalysts that are more efficient, controllable, and less toxic by developing innovative synthetic technologies and improving existing ones. Recently, single-atom catalysts (SACs) with excellent catalytic activity and high selectivity have attracted increasing attention because of their accurate design as nanomaterials at the atomic level, thereby highlighting their potential for nanomedical applications. In this review, the recent advances in nanocatalysts and SACs are briefly summarized according to their synthesis, characterizations, catalytic mechanisms, and nanomedical applications. The opportunities and future scope for their development and the issues and challenges for their application as nanomedicine are also discussed. As far as it is known, the review is the systematic comparison of nanocatalysts and SACs, especially in the field of nanomedicine, which has promoted the development of nanocatalytic medicine.

Electrochemical Oxygen Evolution Performance of Nitrogen‐Doped Ultra‐Thin Carbon Nanosheets Composite Ru1Co Single Atom Alloy Catalysts†

“…[ 20‐22 ] It is found that optimizing the chemical properties of the surface of Ru metal by single‐atom design, [ 23‐25 ] alloy construction [ 26‐28 ] and other means can improve the stability and activity of the catalyst, and at the same time have good cost competitiveness of the catalysts. In recent years, single‐atom catalysts (SACs) have become a research hotspot in the fields of energy, [ 29‐31 ] chemical industry [ 32‐34 ] and drug synthesis [ 35‐36 ] because of their maximum atomic utilization rate and clear catalytic active sites. Among them, single‐atom alloys (SAAs) with the advantages of alloy catalysts and SACs have become one of the focuses of improving electrocatalytic reactions (OER, etc .).…”

Research Progress of Nanomedicine-Based Mild Photothermal Therapy in Tumor

“…56 Although single-atom International Journal of Nanomedicine 2023:18 https://doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S405020 DovePress 1439 nanozyme (SAzyme) based on carbon material had emerged remarkable potential in cancer therapy and antibacterial therapy due to their distributed metallic architecture, which enabled SAzyme to maximize the usage of metal catalytic sites, the hard surface modification of carbon-based materials made it difficult for SAzyme to achieve tumor targeting. [80][81][82][83] For this reason, platelet membrane (PM) was coated onto the surface of Fe-SAzyme to attain tumor-targeting ability attributable to the tendency of PM to vascular injury areas and abnormal vascular structures in tumor tissue. 84,85 After specific aggregation to tumor tissue, PM-coated Fe-SAzyme (PMS) with POD activity could catalyze H 2 O 2 to produce•OH, causing mitochondrial damage and down regulating HSPs, thereby enhancing mPTT under NIR-II excitation (Figure 3b and 3c).…”

Designing Efficient Single Metal Atom Biocatalysts at the Atomic Structure Level

“…Compared to conventional nanocatalysts, SMACs bridge homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, and show great potential in biomedical applications due to the remarkable stability, recycling efficiency and unique electronic/geometric properties. [5] i) The achievement of the maximum metal utilization and reducing metal use results in cheaper costs and biosecurity. ii) The biocatalytic activity of the active sites is enhanced through the combination of fully exposed unsaturated active coordination atoms and the charge-transfer effect.…”

“…Compared to conventional nanocatalysts, SMACs bridge homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, and show great potential in biomedical applications due to the remarkable stability, recycling efficiency and unique electronic/geometric properties [5] . i) The achievement of the maximum metal utilization and reducing metal use results in cheaper costs and biosecurity.…”