Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 2, 2026

Laboratory-determined Phosphorus Flux from Lake Sediments as a Measure of Internal Phosphorus Loading
Published on: March 6, 2014
Black Phosphorus: Bioactive Nanomaterials with Inherent and Selective Chemotherapeutic Effects
Wenhua Zhou1, Ting Pan1, Haodong Cui1
1Center for Biomedical Materials and Interfaces, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Black phosphorus nanosheets (BPs) are demonstrated to be highly bioactive anti-cancer agents because of their inherent and selective chemotherapeutic effects. Fast intracellular biodegradation of BPs and acute elevation of phosphate anions were observed from different types of cancer cells due to the stronger intracellular oxidative stress and accelerated energy metabolism, but normal cells are not affected. Selective biodegradation of BPs induced G2/M phase arrest and subsequent apoptosis- and autophagy-mediated cell death in cancer cells but not normal cells. The selectivity was superior to that of the traditional chemotherapeutic agent, doxorubicin (DOX). In vivo assessment confirmed the efficiency of BPs in suppressing tumor growth. This study provides insights into nanostructured bioactive anti-cancer agents and reveals a new direction for nanomedicine research.
Related Concept Videos
The Phosphorus Cycle
Detection of Black Holes
Their closest cousins are neutron stars, which are composed almost entirely of neutrons packed against each other, making them extremely dense. A neutron star has the same mass as the Sun but its diameter is only a few kilometers. Therefore, the escape velocity from their surface is close to the speed of light.
Not until the 1960s, when the first neutron...
Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur
A consequence of chirality is the need for enantiomeric resolution. While this is theoretically possible for all...
What is Natural Selection?
Antibiotic Selection
Types of Selection

