Antimonene Nanosheets‐Based Z‐Scheme Heterostructure with Enhanced Reactive Oxygen Species Generation and Photothermal Conversion Efficiency for Photonic Therapy of Cancer
Yong Kang, Zhengjun Li, Yanli Yang, Zhiguo Su, Xiaoyuan Ji, Songping Zhang
Abstract
Abstract A Z‐scheme heterojunction with high separation efficiency of photogenerated electrons and holes and enhanced reduction/oxidation potentials, which can enhance reactive oxygen species generation and photothermal conversion efficiency, exhibits tremendous potential in photonic theranostics. Herein, antimonene nanosheets (Sb NSs) are functionalized with photosensitizer 5,10,15,20‐Tetrakis(4‐hydroxy‐phenyl)‐21H,12H‐porphine (THPP) and a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) modifier. The Sb–THPP–PEG NSs thus fabricated are found to form a Z‐scheme heterojunction structure between Sb and THPP, based on their valence band and bandgap level analysis. The Z‐scheme heterojunction structure enables the Sb–THPP–PEG NSs multiple promising features for cancer therapy. Firstly, due to improved electron–hole pairs separation efficiency and redox potential, new reactive oxygen species •O 2 − is generated, besides the production of 1 O 2 by THPP. Secondly, the assembly of THPP enhances the NIR‐light‐to‐heat conversion of Sb NS, a photothermal conversion efficiency as high as 44.6% is obtained by this Sb–THPP–PEG NSs photonic nanomedicine. Moreover, the photothermal, fluorescent, and photoacoustic imaging properties of Sb–THPP–PEG NSs allow multimodal imaging‐guided tumor treatment.