Prominent Photothermal Effect Research Articles

CuS nanotube/chitin composite hydrogel with enhanced photothermal efficiency for near-infrared-activated bacteria-killing

The research on biocompatible materials which exhibit remarkable antibacterial capability has always attracted lots of interests. Among numerous antibacterial materials, CuS micro-/nanomaterial has gained attention as a promising option due to its low toxicity and efficiently photothermal effect. In this study, CuS nanotube/chitin composite hydrogel was prepared by crosslinking with chitin. Due to the prominent photothermal conversion efficiency of CuS nanotube which was up to 64.3 %, the as-prepared composite hydrogel showed enhanced photothermal effect under near-infrared (NIR) illumination. The composite hydrogel also showed a typical peroxidase-like activity which can convert H2O2 into an extremely oxidative and toxic hydroxyl radicals (•OH). The prominent photothermal effect and peroxidase-like activity made the composite hydrogel perform well in antibacterial against Escherichia coli with NIR activation. The possible mechanism of NIR-activated antibacterial from CuS nanotube/chitin composite hydrogel was discussed as well. The results of this work indicate that the CuS/chitin composite hydrogel with enhanced photothermal effect could be a new NIR-activated antibacterial agent used for sterilization.

Novel construction of multifunctional photo-responsive and nucleic acid-triggered doxorubicin-releasing liposomes for cancer therapy

All-in-one nano theranostics integrating accurate diagnosis and combined therapy is promising for high-efficacy tumor treatment and receiving significant attention. In this study, we develop photo-controlled release liposomes with nucleic acid-triggered fluorescence and photoactivity for tumor imaging and synergistic antitumor therapy. Copper phthalocyanine as a photothermal agent is fused into lipid layers to prepare liposomes encapsulating cationic zinc phthalocyanine ZnPc(TAP)412+ and doxorubicin, followed by the modification of RGD peptide on the surface to obtain the final product RGD-CuPc:ZnPc(TAP)412+:DOX@LiPOs (RCZDL). RCZDL possesses favorable stability, significant photothermal effect, and photo-controlled release function through the characterization of physicochemical properties. It is shown that the fluorescence and ROS generation could be turned on by intracellular nucleic acid after illumination. RCZDL exhibits synergistic cytotoxicity, increased apoptosis, and significantly promoted cell uptake. Subcellular localization analysis indicates that ZnPc(TAP)412+ tends to be distributed in the mitochondria of HepG2 cells treated with RCZDL after exposure to light. The results of experiments in vivo on H22 tumor-bearing mice demonstrate that RCZDL had excellent tumor targeting, a prominent photothermal effect at the tumor sites, and synergistic antitumor efficiency. More importantly, little RCZDL has been found to be accumulated in the liver, and most were quickly metabolized by the liver. The results confirm that the proposed new intelligent liposomes provide a simple and cost-effective way for tumor imaging and combinatorial anticancer therapy.

Photothermal Enhanced and Tumor Microenvironment Responsive Nanozyme for Amplified Cascade Enzyme Catalytic Therapy.

Nanocatalysts, a class of nanomaterials with intrinsic enzyme-like activities, have been widely investigated for cancer catalytic therapy in recent years. However, precise construction of nanocatalysts with excellent enzyme catalytic activity and biosafety for tumor therapy still remains challenging. Here, a biodegradable nanocatalyst, PEGylated Cux Mny Sz (PCMS), is reported that can promote cascade catalytic reactions in tumor microenvironment (TME) while confining off-target side effects on normal tissues. PCMS not only catalyzes the cascade conversion of endogenous hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) to oxygen (O2 ) via catalase-like activity and then to superoxide radical (·O2 - ) via oxidase-like activity in the TME, but also effectively depletes intracellular glutathione via glutathione oxidase-like activity. The cascade catalytic reactions, by taking advantage of high H2 O2 level in tumor cells, result in an enhanced enzyme catalytic effect in generation of ·O2 - . More importantly, PCMS exhibits prominent photothermal effect under NIR-II 1064nm laser irradiation that can further enhance chemodynamic therapy (CDT) efficacy in tumors. In addition, the biodegradation in TME and excellent photothermal effect of PCMS are beneficial to magnetic resonance imaging, photoacoustic imaging and infrared thermal imaging, resulting in tracing the fate of PCMS in vivo. This study provides a new tool for rational design of TME-responsive nanocatalysts with high biocompatibility for tumor catalytic therapy.

Photothermal and pH dual-responsive self-healing coating for smart corrosion protection

• Sandwich-like rGO@MS-P-BTA microcapsules are designed to achieve both the pH-sensitive and photothermal-responsive actions. • rGO@MS-P-BTA microcapsules are incorporated into epoxy to prepare a self-healing coating. • The photothermal effect of rGO can not only activate the shape memory effect of epoxy, but also facilitate the release of BTA to suppress the corrosion activity. • PDMAEMA as a pH-driven “gatekeeper” realizes the controlled release of BTA. • The self-healing coating shows a fast healing effect and a prominent healing efficiency. A novel self-healing coating with photothermal and pH dual-responsive properties has been designed to protect carbon steel against corrosion by loading the stimuli-responsive microcapsules into a shape memory epoxy coating. The sandwich-like microcapsules were based on reduced graphene oxide/mesoporous silica (rGO@MS) assembled with a pH-responsive poly(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) layer, and were loaded with benzotriazole (BTA) inhibitors (abbreviated as rGO@MS-P-BTA). Under near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation, the prominent photothermal effect of rGO could not only elevate the coating temperature to activate the shape memory effect and close the coating scratch, but also facilitate the release of corrosion inhibitors to suppress the corrosion activity. Moreover, the PDMAEMA as a pH-driven “gatekeeper” realized the controlled release of BTA from microcapsules at acid conditions. The surface morphology analysis, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) were performed to evaluate the self-healing performance of the composite coatings. The results showed that the combination of NIR light and pH-responsive self-healing effects endowed the coating with short healing time and prominent healing efficiency.

Defect-driven selective oxidation of MoS2 nanosheets with photothermal effect for Photo-Catalytic hydrogen evolution reaction

Surface oxidation engineering has been regarded as a fascinating strategy to construct MoS2-based catalyst. However, it is still challenging to precisely control the oxidation degree of MoS2 to improve its photo-catalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (PHER) activity. In this work, we monitor the defect-driven spontaneous oxidation behavior of MoS2 in an aqueous solution to optimize the PHER performance of MoS2. After exposing to the ambient atmosphere for several weeks at room temperature, defective MoS2 in solution undergoes dramatic aging effects including morphology and component evolution. The oxide-MoS2 catalyst exhibits extraordinary PHER activity with 7.85 mmol g−1h−1 under dual xenon lamp, which is 3.25 times higher than of the prefect 2H-MoS2. The synergistic effect from optimized electronic structure, the intrinsic activity of the active sites and prominent photothermal effect of MoS2 with a certain degree of oxidation greatly enhances the photo-catalytic activity. This work provides a new pathway to control the physicochemical properties and catalytic performance of MoS2-based catalysts by the defect-driven selective oxidation.

Photoresponsive proton conduction in Zr-based metal-organic frameworks using the photothermal effect.

A highly stable and porous MOF [Zr2(H4TPPP)(OH/F)2]·xH2O (1) containing a metal-free porphyrin-phosphonate ligand is reported. It shows high proton conductivity of 1.2 × 10-3 S·cm-1 at 25 °C and 95% RH, a photothermal effect over a wide spectral range from UV-vis to NIR, and photo-enhanced and switchable proton conductivity.

Smart Textiles Based on MoS2 Hollow Nanospheres for Personal Thermal Management.

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides are of particular interest in high-performance photothermal conversion, yet there remains a huge challenge in their practical application in smart textiles for healthcare, energy, and personal protection. Herein, we controllably prepared MoS2 hollow nanospheres with a high photothermal conversion efficiency of 36% via a microemulsion-hydrothermal method, which was further applied to construct photothermal fibers for personal thermal management after a hot-blast dip-drying process. Because of the prominent photothermal effect, the temperature of the photothermal fibers sharply increases from the room temperature value of 25.0 to 55.5 °C in 60 s under near-infrared illumination with a power density of 500 W/cm2. Furthermore, the photothermal fiber pad demonstrated an obvious temperature enhancement of 38.0 °C from a skin temperature of 22.0 °C after it was irradiated by natural sunlight for 60 s. Significantly, the antibacterial elimination rates of the photothermal fibers for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus are ∼99.9 and ∼99.8%, respectively. This strategy affords an avenue toward the practical application of photothermal materials in smart fibers for personal thermoregulation.

Delicately Designed Cancer Cell Membrane-Camouflaged Nanoparticles for Targeted 19F MR/PA/FL Imaging-Guided Photothermal Therapy.

Our exploration of multimodal nanoprobes aims to combine photoacoustic (PA) imaging, 19F magnetic resonance (MR), and fluorescence (FL) imaging, which offers complementary advantages such as high spatial resolution, unlimited penetration, and high sensitivity to enable more refined images for accurate tumor diagnoses. In this research, perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and indocyanine green (ICG) are encapsulated by poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) for intravital 19F MR/FL/PA tri-modal imaging-guided photothermal therapy. Then, it is coated with an A549 cancer cell membrane (AM) to fabricate versatile theranostic nanoprobes (AM-PP@ICGNPs). After systemic administration, FLI reveals time-dependent tumor homing of NPs with high sensitivity, 19F MRI provides tumor localization of NPs without background signal interference, and PAI illustrates the detailed distribution of NPs inside the tumor with high spatial resolution. What is more, AM-PP@ICGNPs accumulated in the tumor area exhibit a prominent photothermal effect (48.4 °C) under near infrared (NIR) laser irradiation and realize an enhanced antitumor response in vivo. These benefits, in combination with the excellent biocompatibility, make AM-PP@ICGNPs a potential theranostic nanoagent for accurate tumor localization and ultimately achieve superior cancer therapy.

A Ruthenium Nitrosyl-Functionalized Magnetic Nanoplatform with Near-Infrared Light-Controlled Nitric Oxide Delivery and Photothermal Effect for Enhanced Antitumor and Antibacterial Therapy.

Developing a spatiotemporal-controlled nitric oxide (NO) delivery nanoplatform is highly desirable for its biological applications as a tumor inhibitor and antibacterial agent. In this study, a novel multifunctional magnetic nanoplatform {Fe3O4@PDA@Ru-NO@FA} (1) was developed for the near-infrared (NIR) light-controlled release of NO in which a ruthenium nitrosyl (Ru-NO) donor and a folic acid (FA)-directing group were covalently functionalized onto Fe3O4@PDA. Nanoplatform 1 preferentially accumulated in folate receptor-overexpressing cancer cell lines and magnetic field-guided tumor tissue, instantly released NO, and simultaneously produced a prominent photothermal effect upon 808 nm NIR light irradiation, leading to remarkable in vitro and in vivo antitumor efficacy. When nanoplatform 1 was treated only once, the potential MRI contrast agent was sufficient to significantly inhibit or eliminate the tumor tissues in living mice, thus offering opportunities for future NO-involved multimodal cancer therapy. In addition, a NO delivery nanoplatform {Fe3O4@PDA@Ru-NO} was imbedded in the matrix of a chitosan (CS)-poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) material to develop a hybrid thermosensitive CS-PVA/NO hydrogel. The CS-PVA/NO hydrogels demonstrated mild (<150 mW cm-2) NIR light-controlled NO delivery and thus produced an efficient antibacterial effect for both Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus. Therefore, these hydrogels have potential as antibacterial dressings for wound bacterial infection treatment.

Multifunctional PVP-Ba2GdF7:Yb3+, Ho3+ coated on Ag nanospheres for bioimaging and tumor photothermal therapy

Photothermal therapy (PTT) guided by bioimaging has attracted much attention. Recently, the multifunctional nanomaterials with multimodal imaging and high-performance therapy effect are extremely important. In this work, a novel nanostructure with Ag nanospheres (NSs) encapsulated Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) film which decorated by Ba2GdF7:Yb3+, Ho3+ nanoparticles is synthesized by a simple method. The novel nanostructure endows the NCs remarkable originality and excellent multifunctional performance. The morphology, structure, optical properties, biocompatibility, cytotoxicity, superparamagnetic properties and photothermal therapeutic efficiency of the Ag@PVP-Ba2GdF7:Yb3+, Ho3+ nanocomposites (NCs) are investigated. The results show that Ag@PVP-Ba2GdF7:Yb3+, Ho3+ NCs possess good upconversion luminescence (UCL) performance and X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging ability. Furthermore, in MTT cytotoxicity measurement, the NCs exhibit low cytotoxicity and excellent biocompatibility. Moreover, the PVP film coating of the NCs can largely promote the stability. In addition, outstanding photothermal conversion ability and stability are also obtained upon NIR laser irradiation. Utilizing the prominent photothermal effect, PTT in vitro shows efficient photothermal killing effect on tumor cells. Therefore, Ag@PVP-Ba2GdF7:Yb3+, Ho3+ NCs from multifaceted research provides a break to multifunctional nanomaterials for multimodal imaging detection and high-performance tumor photothermal therapy.

Core–Shell Bi2Se3@mSiO2‐PEG as a Multifunctional Drug‐Delivery Nanoplatform for Synergistic Thermo‐Chemotherapy with Infrared Thermal Imaging of Cancer Cells

AbstractThermo‐chemotherapy combining photothermal therapy (PTT) with chemotherapy has become a potent approach for antitumor treatment. In this study, a multifunctional drug‐delivery nanoplatform based on polyethylene glycol (PEG)‐modified mesoporous silica‐coated bismuth selenide nanoparticles (referred to as Bi2Se3@mSiO2‐PEG NPs) is developed for synergistic PTT and chemotherapy with infrared thermal (IRT) imaging of cancer cells. The product shows no/low cytotoxicity, strong near‐infrared (NIR) optical absorption, high photothermal conversion capacity, and stability. Utilizing the prominent photothermal effect, high‐contrast IRT imaging and efficient photothermal killing effect on cancer cells are achieved upon NIR laser irradiation. Moreover, the successful mesoporous silica coating of the Bi2Se3@mSiO2‐PEG NPs cannot only largely improve the stability but also endow the NPs high drug loading capacity. As a proof‐of‐concept model, doxorubicin (DOX) is successfully loaded into the NPs with rather high loading capacity (≈50.0%) via the nanoprecipitation method. It is found that the DOX‐loaded NPs exhibit a bimodal on‐demand pH‐ and NIR‐responsive drug release property, and can realize effective intracellular drug delivery for chemotherapy. The synergistic thermo‐chemotherapy results in a significantly higher antitumor efficacy than either PTT or chemotherapy alone. The work reveals the great potential of such core–shell NPs as a multifunctional drug‐delivery nanosystem for thermo‐chemotherapy.

A Eutectic Mixture of Natural Fatty Acids Can Serve as the Gating Material for Near-Infrared-Triggered Drug Release.

A smart release system responsive to near-infrared (NIR) light is developed for intracellular drug delivery. The concept is demonstrated by coencapsulating doxorubicin (DOX) (an anticancer drug) and IR780 iodide (IR780) (an NIR-absorbing dye) into nanoparticles made of a eutectic mixture of naturally occurring fatty acids. The eutectic mixture has a well-defined melting point at 39 °C, and can be used as a biocompatible phase-change material for NIR-triggered drug release. The resultant nanoparticles exhibit prominent photothermal effect and quick drug release in response to NIR irradiation. Fluorescence microscopy analysis indicates that the DOX trapped in the nanoparticles can be efficiently released into the cytosol under NIR irradiation, resulting in enhanced anticancer activity. A new platform is thus offered for designing effective intracellular drug-release systems, holding great promise for future cancer therapy.

Hollow mesoporous carbon as a near-infrared absorbing carrier compared with mesoporous carbon nanoparticles for chemo-photothermal therapy

In this study, hollow mesoporous carbon nanoparticles (HMCN) and mesoporous carbon nanoparticles (MCN) were used as near-infrared region (NIR) nanomaterials and drug nanocarriers were prepared using different methods. A comparison between HMCN and MCN was performed with regard to the NIR-induced photothermal effect and drug loading efficiency. The results of NIR-induced photothermal effect test demonstrated that HMCN-COOH had a better photothermal conversion efficacy than MCN-COOH. Given the prominent photothermal effect of HMCN-COOH in vitro, the chemotherapeutic drug DOX was chosen as a model drug to further evaluate the drug loading efficiencies and NIR-triggered drug release behaviors of the nanocarriers. The drug loading efficiency of DOX/HMCN-COOH was found to be up to 76.9%, which was higher than that of DOX/MCN-COOH. In addition, the use of an 808nm NIR laser markedly increased the release of DOX from both carbon carriers in pH 5.0 PBS and pH 7.4 PBS. Cellular photothermal tests involving A549 cells demonstrated that HMCN-COOH had a much higher photothermal efficacy than MCN-COOH. Cell viability experiments and flow cytometry were performed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of DOX/HMCN-COOH and the results obtained demonstrated that DOX/HMCN-COOH had a synergistic therapeutic effect in cancer treatment involving a combination of chemotherapy and photothermal therapy.

Iron-oxide nanoparticles embedded silica microsphere resonator exhibiting broadband all-optical wavelength tunability.

In this Letter, a novel silica microsphere resonator (MSR) embedded with iron-oxide nanoparticles, which possesses broadband all-optical wavelength tunability, is demonstrated. It is generated by using in-line 1550 nm laser ablation of a microfiber with the assistance of magnetic fluid. To the best of our knowledge, this simple method of fabricating such MSRs is reported for the first time. Prominent photothermal effect is realized by the iron-oxide nanoparticles absorbing light pumped via the fiber stem, leading to a wavelength shift of over 13 nm (1.6 THz). Moreover, a linear tuning efficiency up to 0.2 nm/mW is realized. With excellent robustness and being fiberized, the spheres can be attractive elements in building up novel micro-illuminators, point heaters, optical sensors, and fiber communication modules.