Chitosan as a stabilizer and size-control agent for synthesis of porous flower-shaped palladium nanoparticles and their applications on photo-based therapies.

This study reported a newly developed green synthesis method using chitosan and vitamin C to prepare porous flower-shaped palladium nanoparticles. We found that chitosan not only worked as a stabilizer but also as a size-control agent for the synthesis of these nanoparticles. The growth model of flower-shaped palladium nanoparticles was proposed to interpret mechanistic understanding. The obtained nanoparticles showed good biocompatibility and strong near-infrared absorption. The nanoparticles were successfully demonstrated to be highly efficient for both in vitro photothermal therapy and in vitro photoacoustic imaging.