Nano-Micro Letters, Volume. 17, Issue 1, 032(2025)

High Fe-Loading Single-Atom Catalyst Boosts ROS Production by Density Effect for Efficient Antibacterial Therapy

Si Chen1,2, Fang Huang1, Lijie Mao1, Zhimin Zhang2, Han Lin2, Qixin Yan1, Xiangyu Lu1,3、*, and Jianlin Shi2、**
Author Affiliations
  • 1Department of Cardiology, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, People’s Republic of China
  • 2Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, People’s Republic of China
  • 3Shanghai Frontiers Science Center of Nanocatalytic Medicine, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, People’s Republic of China
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    The current single-atom catalysts (SACs) for medicine still suffer from the limited active site density. Here, we develop a synthetic method capable of increasing both the metal loading and mass-specific activity of SACs by exchanging zinc with iron. The constructed iron SACs (h3-FNC) with a high metal loading of 6.27 wt% and an optimized adjacent Fe distance of ~ 4 Å exhibit excellent oxidase-like catalytic performance without significant activity decay after being stored for six months and promising antibacterial effects. Attractively, a “density effect” has been found at a high-enough metal doping amount, at which individual active sites become close enough to interact with each other and alter the electronic structure, resulting in significantly boosted intrinsic activity of single-atomic iron sites in h3-FNCs by 2.3 times compared to low- and medium-loading SACs. Consequently, the overall catalytic activity of h3-FNC is highly improved, with mass activity and metal mass-specific activity that are, respectively, 66 and 315 times higher than those of commercial Pt/C. In addition, h3-FNCs demonstrate efficiently enhanced capability in catalyzing oxygen reduction into superoxide anion (O2·-) and glutathione (GSH) depletion. Both in vitro and in vivo assays demonstrate the superior antibacterial efficacy of h3-FNCs in promoting wound healing. This work presents an intriguing activity-enhancement effect in catalysts and exhibits impressive therapeutic efficacy in combating bacterial infections.

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    Si Chen, Fang Huang, Lijie Mao, Zhimin Zhang, Han Lin, Qixin Yan, Xiangyu Lu, Jianlin Shi. High Fe-Loading Single-Atom Catalyst Boosts ROS Production by Density Effect for Efficient Antibacterial Therapy[J]. Nano-Micro Letters, 2025, 17(1): 032

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    Paper Information

    Category: Research Articles

    Received: May. 28, 2024

    Accepted: Aug. 28, 2024

    Published Online: Feb. 12, 2025

    The Author Email: Lu Xiangyu (xiangyulu@126.com), Shi Jianlin (jlshi@mail.sic.ac.cn)

    DOI:10.1007/s40820-024-01522-1

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