Carbon nanomaterials have received great attention from the scientific community over the past few decades because of their unique physical and chemical properties. In this minireview, we will summarize the recent progress of the use of various carbon nanomaterials in the field of cancer phototherapy. The structural characteristics of each category and the surface functionalization strategies of these nanomaterials will be briefly introduced before focusing on their therapeutic applications. Recent advances on their use in photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, and combined phototherapies are presented. Moreover, a few challenges and perspectives on the development of carbon nanomaterials for future theranostics are also discussed.

It is of vital importance to engineer the surface structures of carbon dots (CDs) to satisfy their practical biomedical applications, including imaging and treatment.

The current developments of NIR-responsive CDs and their applications in bioimaging and phototherapy are highlighted in this review.

Solar interfacial evaporation is an emerging technology in solar energy harvesting developed to remedy the global energy crisis and the lack of freshwater resources. However, developing fully enhanced thermal management to optimize solarheat utilization efficiency and form remains a great challenge. We created a synergistic photothermal layer from a poly(N-phenylglycine) (PNPG)/MoS 2 nanohybrid via electrostatic-induced selfassembly for a broad-spectrum and efficient solar absorption. The PNPG/MoS 2 system provided effective synergistic photothermal conversion and good water transmission, enabling rapid solar steam escape. Notably, synergistic coupling of solar evaporation− thermoelectric (TE) power generation was also achieved, providing more efficient exploitation of solar heat. The system demonstrated a solar evaporation rate of up to 1.70 kg m −2 h −1 and achieved a maximum thermoelectric output power with 0.23 W m −2 under one sun. The high-performance PNPG/MoS 2 synergistic photothermal system developed in this study offers potential opportunities for coupling solar water purification with thermoelectric power generation to meet the needs of resource-scarce areas.

Indocyanine green (ICG) is an effective light absorber for laser-mediated photodynamic therapy. However, applications of ICG are limited due to its rapid degradation and poor photostability in water. Herein, we report the development of a multifunctional nanoplatform by coating ICG on the surface of single-walled carbon nanohorns (SWNHs) through π-π stacking, obtaining SWNH-ICGs with high solubility and stability under physiological conditions. The SWNH-ICGs could be used as a single nanoplatform to simultaneously produce satisfactory hyperthermia and reactive oxygen species under near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation. In addition, the SWNH-ICGs not only improved the photostability of ICG in different media, but also protected it from light degradation. The SWNH-ICGs exhibited highly efficient thermal/photoacoustic (PA) imaging-guided photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) effects, even under low-power laser irradiation (0.3 W cm ) in vitro. Combined PTT and PDT effectively killed triple-negative breast cancer 4T1 cells, demonstrating a markedly improved and synergistic therapeutic effect compared to PTT or PDT alone. Furthermore, significant tumor growth inhibition as well as tumor cell death were observed following PTT/PDT at 808 nm laser irradiation, confirming the synergistic effects of SWNH-ICGs over free ICG in vivo. This facile and simple methodology for thermal/PA imaging-guided PTT/PDT suggests that SWNH-ICGs may serve as an effective nanoplatform for cancer therapy.

Realizing high-efficiency solar evaporation has great potential for purification of sewage and seawater desalination. However, continuous water supply, solar energy conversion, and thermal management must be further studied to improve water evaporation. In this research, inspired by the Amazon water lily, an interfacial water-trapping tridimensional structure solar evaporator was developed to achieve continuous supply of water from the water-trapping layer and three-dimensional heat distribution management. First, an artificial photothermal membrane with poly­(N-phenylglycine) (PNPG) was conveniently prepared by vacuum filtration. Then, combined with the three-dimensional heat distribution management design and the water-trapping layer for continuous supply of water, more optimized energy utilization and efficient interface heating were realized. Besides, because the novel nanoscale PNPG has excellent light capture performance and the absorbed solar energy can be concentrated in the water-trapping layer, the solar evaporation is more effective, showing higher energy efficiency (93.5%) and higher evaporation rate (1.72 kg m–2 h–1) under 1 sun. A special structure is designed to minimize energy loss and better regulate the connection between water evaporation, solar energy conversion, and thermal regulation. According to the results, these bioinspired solar evaporators can provide new ideas for designing high-efficiency solar evaporator structures and provide new opportunities for practical applications.

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The integration of surface-enhanced Raman spectrum (SERS) and fluorescence-photoacoustic multimodal imaging in near-infrared photothermal therapy is highly desirable for cancer theranostic. However, typically, gold nanotheranostics usually require an additional modification of fluorophores and complex design refinements. In this work, by integrating surface-modified cysteine-hydroxyl merocyanine (CyHMC) molecules onto AuNRs, a novel lysosome-targeted gold-based nanotheranostics AuNRs-CyHMC that combines the specificity of Raman spectrum, the speed of fluorescence imaging, and deep penetration of photoacoustic imaging was successfully fabricated. Interestingly, fluorescence and Raman signals in this AuNRs-CyHMC system do not interfere, but it has pH-sensitive Raman signals and selffluorescence localization ability under different excitation wavelengths. Fluorescence co-localization experiments further confirmed the lysosome-targeting ability of AuNRs-CyHMC. Typically, the proposed nanotheranostics were capable of SERS monitoring pH changes in both phosphate-buffered saline and living cells. Meanwhile, in vitro and in vivo experiments revealed that AuNRs-CyHMC possessed excellent fluorescence-photoacoustic performance and could be used for multimodal imaging-guided photothermal therapy. Furthermore, our work implied that gold nanotheranostics can provide great potential for cancer diagnosis and treatment.