Metallic Carbonitride MXene Based Photonic Hyperthermia for Tumor Therapy

Photothermal therapy (PTT) as a noninvasive hyperthermia exhibits high potential for anti-cancer treatments. The explosion of efficient photothermal agents (PTAs) keeps developing rapidly. MXene stands out due to its intriguing structures, fantastic photodynamic properties, and good biocompatibility. However, the potential of MXenes has not been sufficiently explored in PTT. Its versatile chemical compositions of MXenes provide vast opportunities to discover new candidates. Considering that the metallic feature is mainly attributed to the metal element, anionic modulation may open a distinct avenue to propel efficient PTAs with metallic nature, which is expected for high light-harvesting over near-infrared (NIR)-I and NIR-II. As a paradigm, metal carbonitride is chosen to visualize the influences of anionic modulation. Taking advantage of electron injection from nitrogen, the distinct carbonitride Ti₃ C_1.15 N_0.85 F_0.88 O_0.56 (OH)_0.56 exhibits a strong NIR absorption (36.6 L g^-1 cm^-1 at 808 nm, 43.5 L g^-1 cm^-1 at 1064 nm), resulting in efficient photonic hyperthermia against tumors in vitro and in vivo. Looking through a large family of MXenes, this proof-of-principle demonstration offers a deep understanding between atomic composition and physicochemical properties, which further solidifies MXenes with all the potential for biomedical applications.