Fabrication of SnS (NF)/Ag (NW) composite and investigation of its photothermal properties in destroying HeLa cell line

Abstract

The photothermal effect is a special type of photoactivation based on the non-radiative conversion of absorbed electromagnetic energy, increases the body's temperature. One of the important applications of photothermal is photothermal therapy (PTT) to destroy cancer cells. In this article, SnS nanoflowers (NF) and Ag nanowires (NW) were synthesized by solvothermal method. They were composited together with different mass ratios and characterized by XRD, SEM, and EDS analysis. The optical band gap was calculated 2.62 eV using UV–vis spectrum. The photothermal properties of these nanoparticles were investigated using an 808 nm laser at different concentrations and different laser powers. SnS/Ag composites with different mass ratios were tested and the highest temperature increase of 42.8 °C was observed for a ratio of 17:1 under 1 W/cm2 laser radiation. The photothermal conversion efficiency of SnS (NF) and its composite with Ag (NW) was calculated as 56.32 % and 67.7 %, respectively. The toxicity effect of nanoparticles and laser on HeLa cancer cells was investigated by MTT method. It was observed that during 5 and 10 min of laser irradiation, with the presence of SnS (NF), 94.7 % and 95.7 %, and for its composite with Ag(NW), respectively, 95 % and 95.8 % of HeLa cancer cells were destroyed.