Photothermal therapy (PTT) offers many advantages such as high efficiency and minimal invasiveness, but clinical adoption of PTT nanoagents have been stifled by unresolved concerns such as the biodegradability as well as long-term toxicity. Herein, poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) loaded with black phosphorus quantum dots (BPQDs) is processed by an emulsion method to produce biodegradable BPQDs/PLGA nanospheres. The hydrophobic PLGA not only isolates the interior BPQDs from oxygen and water to enhance the photothermal stability, but also control the degradation rate of the BPQDs. The in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrate that the BPQDs/PLGA nanospheres have inappreciable toxicity and good biocompatibility, and possess excellent PTT efficiency and tumour targeting ability as evidenced by highly efficient tumour ablation under near infrared (NIR) laser illumination. These BP-based nanospheres combine biodegradability and biocompatibility with high PTT efficiency, thus promising high clinical potential.

Black phosphorus (BP), a burgeoning elemental 2D semiconductor, has aroused increasing scientific and technological interest, especially as a channel material in field-effect transistors (FETs). However, the intrinsic instability of BP causes practical concern and the transistor performance must also be improved. Here, the use of metal-ion modification to enhance both the stability and transistor performance of BP sheets is described. Ag spontaneously adsorbed on the BP surface via cation-π interactions passivates the lone-pair electrons of P thereby rendering BP more stable in air. Consequently, the Ag -modified BP FET shows greatly enhanced hole mobility from 796 to 1666 cm V s and ON/OFF ratio from 5.9 × 10 to 2.6 × 10 . The mechanisms pertaining to the enhanced stability and transistor performance are discussed and the strategy can be extended to other metal ions such as Fe , Mg , and Hg . Such stable and high-performance BP transistors are crucial to electronic and optoelectronic devices. The stability and semiconducting properties of BP sheets can be enhanced tremendously by this novel strategy.

A titanium sulfonate ligand is synthesized for surface coordination of black phosphorus (BP). In contrast to serious degradation observed from the bare BP, the BP after surface coordination exhibits excellent stability during dispersion in water and exposure to air for a long period of time, thereby significantly extending the lifetime and spurring broader application of BP.

We show that copper-containing metal-organic nanoparticles (MONPs) are readily synthesized via Cu(II)-mediated intramolecular cross-linking of aspartate-containing polyolefins in water. In situ reduction with sodium ascorbate yields Cu(I)-containing MONPs that serve as highly efficient supramolecular catalysts for alkyne-azide "click chemistry" reactions, yielding the desired 1,4-adducts at low parts per million catalyst levels. The nanoparticles have low toxicity and low metal loadings, making them convenient, green catalysts for alkyne-azide "click" reactions in water. The Cu-MONPs enter cells and perform efficient, biocompatible click chemistry, thus acting as intracellular nanoscale molecular synthesizers.