Novel mesoporous Gd3+ doped Cr2O3 nanomaterials: Synthesis, characterization, catalytic and antitumor applications

•Novel Gd2O3/Cr2O3 nanomaterials were successfully prepared by impregnation method.•Gd3+ doping significantly modified the properties of Cr2O3 nanomaterial.•All doped nanomaterials possess high surface area and mesoporous structure.•Gd3+ doping significantly promoted the catalytic activity for Cr2O3 nanomaterial.•Pure and highly active Gd3+ doped Cr2O3 samples (1 mol%) showed antitumor activity.

Novel Gd3+ doped Cr2O3 nanomaterials were successfully prepared by impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, TEM, EDS, UV–vis and N2 adsorption. XRD data showed that the particles were crystalline and the Gd3+-doping enhanced the decreasing the crystallite size of Cr2O3 nanomaterial. Optical studies for pure and Gd3+ doped Cr2O3 nanomaterials exhibited blue shift compared with that of bulk Cr2O3 due to quantum confined exciton absorption. The surface areas of all doped nanomaterials were increased by more than 80% compared to pure Cr2O3 catalyst because of higher nitrogen adsorption capacity. It was observed that the presence of Gd3+ ion as a dopant significantly promoted the ethanol oxidation and ethylene production for Cr2O3 catalyst. In this study, the optimum amount of Gd3+-doping was 1 mol%, which had the smallest crystallite size, the highest surface area and much blue shift in UV–vis spectra, and thereby the highest catalytic activity was achieved. Meanwhile, the pure and highly active Gd3+ doped Cr2O3 nanomaterials (1 mol%) were applied for antitumor activity toward Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma cell line. Moreover, the half maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) was 50 and 33.5 μg/mL, respectively.

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