Optical nanomaterials with intense absorption in near-infrared (NIR) region hold great promise for biomedical applications such as photothermal therapy (PTT) and photoacoustic imaging (PAI). In this work, we report mesoporous carbon nanospheres (Meso-CNs) with broadband and intense absorption in the UV-Vis-NIR region (300-1400 nm) and explore their potential as a multifunctional platform for ph...

A dendrimer porphyrin (DP)-coated gold nanoshell (AuNS-DP) was prepared for the synergistic combination of photodyanmic and photothermal therapy. The resultant AuNS-DP successfully exhibited the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as well as photothermal effect for the simultaneous application of photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT).

Photothermal therapy as a physical therapeutic approach has greatly attracted research interest due to its negligible systemic effects. Among the various photothermal agents, CuS nanoparticles have been widely used due to their easy preparation, low cost, high stability and strong absorption in the NIR region. However, the ambiguous biotoxicity of CuS nanoparticles limited their bio-application...

Copper sulphides, as a novel kind of photothermal agent for photothermal therapy (PTT) of cancer cells, have attracted increasing attention in recent years due to good photostability, synthetic simplicity, low toxicity and low cost. However, the unsatisfactory photothermal conversion efficiency of copper sulphides limits their bioapplication as PTT agents. Herein, Cu7.2S4 NCs with a mean size o...

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have shown great potential in both photothermal therapy and drug delivery. In this study, a CNT derivative, hyaluronic acid-derivatized CNTs (HA-CNTs) with high aqueous solubility, neutral pH, and tumor-targeting activity, were synthesized and characterized, and then a new photodynamic therapy agent, hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether (HMME), was adsorbed onto the function...

Photothermal diffusion-wave imaging is a promising technique for the analysis of a range of media. However, traditional diffusion-wave techniques are limited by the physics of parabolic diffusion and can only produce depth-integrated planar images. Here, we report a depth-resolved photothermal imaging modality, henceforth termed truncated-correlation photothermal coherence tomography (TC-PCT). ...

Laser speckle imaging (LSI) is an interferometric technique that provides information about the relative speed of moving scatterers in a sample. Photothermal LSI overcomes limitations in depth resolution faced by conventional LSI by incorporating an excitation pulse to target absorption by hemoglobin within the vascular network. Here we present results from experiments designed to determine the...

Gold (Au) nanoparticles are promising photothermal agents with the potential of clinical translation. However, the safety concerns of Au photothermal agents including the potential toxic compositions such as silver and copper elements in their structures and the relative large size-caused retention and accumulation in the body post-treatment are still questionable. In this article, we successfu...

Near-infrared light-responsive inorganic nanoparticles have been shown to enhance the efficacy of cancer photothermal ablation therapy. However, current nanoparticle-mediated photothermal ablation is more effective in treating local cancer at the primary site than metastatic cancer. Here, we report the design of a near-infrared light-induced transformative nanoparticle platform that combines ph...

The photothermal effect is the generation of heat by molecules or particles upon high-energy laser irradiation, and near-infrared absorbers such as gold nanoparticles and organic dyes have a range of potential photothermal applications. The favourable photothermal properties of thiophene-functionalised croconaine dyes were recently discovered. The synthesis and properties of novel croconaine ro...