Rationally Designed Multifunctional Carbon–Palladium Nanohybrids for Wide Applications: From Electrochemical Catalysis/Nonenzymatic Sensor to Photothermal Tumor Therapy

Abstract

Palladium nanomaterials have been widely investigated in many areas due to their high activity of catalysis and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) resulting from their special configurations of the outer electrons. Herein, the novel nanoparticles, reduced graphene oxide modified with palladium nanoflowers (rGO/PdNFs), were designed and synthesized by seeded growth. Their application potentials in three areas were explored, including electrochemical ethanol catalysis, nonenzymatic glucose sensor, and photothermal tumor therapy. The hybrids of PdNFs and rGO increased the conductivity and active sites of PdNFs and then enhanced the activity of catalysis. Interestingly, through control of morphologies, the absorption of PdNFs in the near-infrared region was enhanced compared with common palladium nanoparticles, which showed excellent potential in photothermal tumor therapy. These results indicated the stronger activity of catalysis to ethanol of rGO/PdNFs compared with the commercial Pd/C catalyst, superior sensitivity and selectivity of glucose, and effective photothermal antitumor efficacy. Overall, it is demonstrated that the multifunctional rGO/PdNFs nanohybrids could possess more application potentials.