Synthesis of WS2 Nanowires as Efficient 808 nm-Laser-Driven Photothermal Nanoagents

A prerequisite for the development of photothermal ablation therapy for cancer is to obtain efficient photothermal nanoagents that can be irradiated by near-infrared (NIR) laser. Herein, we have reported the synthesis of WS2 nanowires as photothermal nanoagents by the reaction of WCl6 with CS2 in oleylamine at 280 degrees C. WS2 nanowires have the thickness of -2 nm and length of -100 nm. Importantly, the chloroform dispersion of WS2 nanowires exhibits strong photoabsorption in NIR region. The temperature of the dispersion (0.10-0.50 mg/mL) can increase by 12.8-23.9 degrees C in 5 min under the irradiation of 808 nm laser with a power density of 0.80 W/cm2. Therefore, WS2 nanowires have a great superiority as a new nanoagent for NIR-induced photothermal ablation of cancer, due to their small size and excellent photothermal performance.