Photothermal therapy (PTT) has shown significant potential for cancer therapy. However, developing nanomaterials (NMs)-based photothermal agents (PTAs) with satisfactory photothermal conversion efficacy (PTCE) and biocompatibility remains a key challenge. Herein, a new generation of PTAs based on two-dimensional (2D) antimonene quantum dots (AMQDs) was developed by a novel liquid exfoliation method. Surface modification of AMQDs with polyethylene glycol (PEG) significantly enhanced both biocompatibility and stability in physiological medium. The PEG-coated AMQDs showed a PTCE of 45.5 %, which is higher than many other NMs-based PTAs such as graphene, Au, MoS₂, and black phosphorus (BP). The AMQDs-based PTAs also exhibited a unique feature of NIR-induced rapid degradability. Through both in vitro and in vivo studies, the PEG-coated AMQDs demonstrated notable NIR-induced tumor ablation ability. This work is expected to expand the utility of 2D antimonene (AM) to biomedical applications through the development of an entirely novel PTA platform.

中文翻译：

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锑量子点：合成和作为有效治疗癌症的近红外光热剂的应用

光热疗法（PTT）已显示出巨大的癌症治疗潜力。但是，开发具有令人满意的光热转化功效（PTCE）和生物相容性的基于纳米材料（NMs）的光热剂（PTA）仍然是关键挑战。在本文中，通过新颖的液体剥落方法开发了基于二维（2D）锑烯量子点（AMQD）的新一代PTA。用聚乙二醇（PEG）对AMQD进行表面修饰可显着增强其在生理介质中的生物相容性和稳定性。PEG涂层的AMQD的PTCE为45.5％，高于许多其他基于NMs的PTA，例如石墨烯，Au，MoS ₂和黑磷（BP）。基于AMQD的PTA还具有NIR诱导的快速降解性的独特功能。通过体外和体内研究，PEG包被的AMQDs表现出显着的NIR诱导的肿瘤消融能力。通过开发一个全新的PTA平台，这项工作有望将2D锑（AM）的用途扩展到生物医学应用。