Engineered Reverse Growth of Metastable Electron‐Rich Pd Clusters for Enhanced Catalytic/Sonodynamic/Immune Therapy

ABSTRACT Stabilizing metastable electron‐rich metals with atomic dispersion is critical for boosting tumor microenvironment (TME)‐responsive catalysis and sonodynamic therapy (SDT), yet remains challenging. Herein, a “reverse growth” strategy is employed to kinetically trap Pd atoms from bulk Pd nanoparticles (NPs) via sub‐nano CoSe x O y ‐POM assemblies, forming atomically dispersed metastable electron‐rich Pd clusters (Ternary‐Pd). Electron delocalization at the sub‐nanoscale induces electron rearrangement in the entire sub‐nanostructure, thus enabling the acquisition of a novel electronic structure. Interestingly, the Pd clusters exhibit a more negative valence relative to 0‐valent Pd. Specifically, such low‐valent Pd clusters in an atomically dispersed state potently augment TME‐responsive catalytic reactions, exhibiting a 15‐fold enhancement in hydroxyl radical (•OH) generation for catalytic therapy, alongside enhanced hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 )‐responsive oxygen (O 2 ) evolution that mitigates tumor hypoxia. Furthermore, their uniquely enriched electron density at the Pd active sites facilitates electron–hole separation, thereby potentiating SDT efficacy and resulting in a sixfold increase in singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ) yield. Abundant and different reactive oxygen species (ROS) induce mitochondrial oxidative stress, activating the caspase‐1/GSDMD‐mediated pyroptosis pathway. Besides, the introduced selenium (Se) doping promotes robust systemic immune responses to inhibit the growth of tumor metastases after oxidative stress.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Materials
Published
2026-07-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.74262
Primary Topic
Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics
Type
article
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article

Engineered Reverse Growth of Metastable Electron‐Rich Pd Clusters for Enhanced Catalytic/Sonodynamic/Immune Therapy

Rongrong Pan, D Y Wang, Xun Wang, Fenghua Zhang et al.
Advanced Materials
Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics
article

Engineered Reverse Growth of Metastable Electron‐Rich Pd Clusters for Enhanced Catalytic/Sonodynamic/Immune Therapy

Rongrong Pan, D Y Wang, Xun Wang, Fenghua Zhang, Wenxiong Shi
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Stabilizing metastable electron‐rich metals with atomic dispersion is critical for boosting tumor microenvironment (TME)‐responsive catalysis and sonodynamic therapy (SDT), yet remains challenging. Herein, a “reverse growth” strategy is employed to kinetically trap Pd atoms from bulk Pd nanoparticles (NPs) via sub‐nano CoSe x O y ‐POM assemblies, forming atomically dispersed metastable electron‐rich Pd clusters (Ternary‐Pd). Electron delocalization at the sub‐nanoscale induces electron rearrangement in the entire sub‐nanostructure, thus enabling the acquisition of a novel electronic structure. Interestingly, the Pd clusters exhibit a more negative valence relative to 0‐valent Pd. Specifically, such low‐valent Pd clusters in an atomically dispersed state potently augment TME‐responsive catalytic reactions, exhibiting a 15‐fold enhancement in hydroxyl radical (•OH) generation for catalytic therapy, alongside enhanced hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 )‐responsive oxygen (O 2 ) evolution that mitigates tumor hypoxia. Furthermore, their uniquely enriched electron density at the Pd active sites facilitates electron–hole separation, thereby potentiating SDT efficacy and resulting in a sixfold increase in singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ) yield. Abundant and different reactive oxygen species (ROS) induce mitochondrial oxidative stress, activating the caspase‐1/GSDMD‐mediated pyroptosis pathway. Besides, the introduced selenium (Se) doping promotes robust systemic immune responses to inhibit the growth of tumor metastases after oxidative stress.

Advanced Materials
Tianjin University of Technology (CN), Ministry of Education (IR), Hebei University (CN), Tsinghua University (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 16%
Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics
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Engineered Reverse Growth of Metastable Electron‐Rich Pd Clusters for Enhanced Catalytic/Sonodynamic/Immune Therapy — Rongrong Pan, D Y Wang, et al. · Advanced Materials (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS