Black Phosphorous Nanosheets for Cancer Phototherapy

Developing excellent biocompatible and biodegradable novel photothermal agents is one of the key issues for promoting biomaterial-mediated photothermal therapy (PTT) technique to clinical application. Black phosphorus (BP) nanosheets, an important member in the family of 2D materials, have been intensively investigated in the biomedical field since BP nanosheets may be low toxic and biodegradable in vivo, as well as have huge specific surface area for drug loading and highly photothermal conversion efficiency in red and near-infrared regions. In addition, BP nanosheets, upon laser irradiation, can also generate reactive oxygen species. Therefore, BP nanosheets can be used for drug delivery, PTT, and photodynamic therapy (PDT). In this chapter, BP nanosheet- and BP quantum dot-mediated cancer PTT were summarized. BP nanomaterial-mediated PDT, as well as the structure, preparation methods, biomedical applications, and properties, especially the laser-triggered photothermal conversion property of BP and toxicity, were also discussed.