Safety ‐by‐Design of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles Based on the Regulation of their Energy Edges

Various transition metals are doped into Mn3O4 NPs, aiming at tuning theirEf far away fromEv and significantly reducing their toxicity. Zn ‐doped Mn3O4 NPs display the largest energy difference betweenEf andEv, and simultaneously exhibit the low ROS generation ability and weak in vitro and in vivo oxidative injury. AbstractThe safety of metal oxide (MOx) nanoparticles (NPs) has been highly concerned because of their wide application and potential toxicological injury. The safe ‐by‐design strategy is usually developed to make safer MOx NPs based on regulation of their physicochemical properties. In the present study, manganese oxide (Mn3O4) NPs, as a representative of insoluble toxic MOx NPs, are doped with a series of transition metal to regulate their conduction band energy (Ec) out of biological redox potential range (BRPR) or Fermi energy (Ef) far away from valence band energy (Ev), aiming at completely eliminating the toxicity or significantly reducing the toxicity. It is found that all these M ‐doping cannot moveEc of Mn3O4 NPs out of the BRPR but zinc (Zn) ‐, copper (Cu)‐, and chromium (Cr)‐doping do moveEf far away fromEv, where Zn ‐doping results in the largest |Ef−Ev| value. Various abiotic, in vitro and in vivo assessments reveal that Zn ‐, Cu‐, and Cr‐doped Mn3O4 NPs can generate lower amount of •OH and trigger weaker injury than Mn3O4 NPs, where Zn ‐doped Mn3O4 NPs show the lowest toxicity. RegulatingEf far away fromEv becomes a feasibl...
Source: Small - Category: Nanotechnology Authors: Tags: Full Paper Source Type: research