Fenton-like reactions driven by manganese-based nanostructures have been widely applied in cancer treatment owing to the intrinsic physiochemical properties of these nanostructures and their improved sensitivity to the tumor microenvironment. In this work, Zn x Mn 1−x S@polydopamine composites incorporating alloyed Zn x Mn 1−x S and polydopamine (PDA) were constructed, in which the Fenton-like reactions driven by Mn ions can be tuned by a controllable release of Mn ions in vitro and in vivo. As a result, the Zn x Mn 1−x S@PDA exhibited good biocompatibility with normal cells but was specifically toxic to cancer cells. In addition, the shell thickness of PDA was carefully investigated to obtain excellent specific toxicity to cancer cells and promote synergistic chemodynamic and photothermal therapies. Overall, this work highlights an alternative strategy for fabricating high-performance, multifunctional composite nanostructures for a combined cancer treatment.

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Manganese‐based nanomaterials have emerged as potential and important nanomedicine for bioimaging and cancer treatment due to their excellent electronic structure and intrinsic physiochemical property and sensitivity to tumor microenvironment (TME). In this review, the recent progress on the synthesis and applications of various manganese oxides, sulfides with well‐controlled size, morphologies, chemical composition, and nanostructures have been summarized. Numerous samples have been chosen as examples to demonstrate the as‐designed Mn‐based nanostructures for their specifically responded to the TME to produce highly toxic reactive oxygen species via Fenton‐like reactions. Some advanced nanotechnology has been widely used to enhance their therapeutic performance on the cancer treatment under external physical field for multimodal imaging and cancer therapy including chemodynamic therapy, photodynamic therapy, sonodynamic therapy, photothermal therapy, radiation therapy, starving therapy, and gas therapy. Perspectives have been presented to demonstrate in this cutting‐edge research area.

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In this mini‐review, we highlighted the recent progresses in the controlled synthesis of metal sulfides hollow nanostructures via hard template technique. After a brief introduction about the formation mechanism of the inorganic hollow nanostructures via hard template technique, the discussions primarily focused on the emerging development of metal sulfides hollow nanostructures. Various synthetic strategies were summarized concerning the use of the hard template engaged strategies to fabricate various metal sulfides hollow nanostructures, such as hydrothermal method, solvothermal method, ion‐exchange, sulfidation or calcination etc. Finally, the perspectives and summaries have been presented to demonstrate that a facile synthetic technique would be widely used to fabricate metal sulfides hollow nanostructures with multi‐shells and components.

In this study, we have described a facile process for fabrication of multifunctional composite hydrogel, in which sodium alginate was subjected to cross-linking using Ca2+ derived from ZnO/CaCO3/Ag composite nanospheres. The ZnO/CaCO3/Ag composite nanospheres were prepared based on our previously reported AA-[Zn(OH)4]2− composite nanosphere reaction conducted with silver and calcium salt following hydrothermal method, that led to the disintegration and release of Ca2+ under acidic conditions for application as a cross-linking agentto catalyze reaction with sodium alginate. Ag nanoparticles were well-dispersed in the multifunctional composite hydrogel, exhibiting excellent antibacterial activity. Additionally, polydopamine (PDA) with photothermal effect was also added to obtain a multifunctional composite hydrogel, and this hydrogel showed photothermal conversion performance and facilitated the release of Ag+ to achieve the rapid antibacterial effect. Simultaneously, PDA NPs could scavenge free radicals and improve cell adhesion. All such features would promote wound healing. The potent antimicrobial activity of the prepared composite hydrogel was demonstrated in the mouse model of S. aureus infection, and biosafety of the hydrogel was confirmed by conducting histopathological examination in the mouse model. This type of multifunctional hydrogel wound dressing with photosensitive and antibacterial properties presents with broad applications and prospects in antibacterial treatment.