Black phosphorus as a versatile nanoplatform: From unique properties to biomedical applications

Abstract

Black phosphorus (BP) or phosphorene, a new superstar among two-dimensional (2D) materials, has sparked huge scientific interest since its discovery in 2014. BP offers unique characteristics including high drug loading efficiency, excellent photodynamic and photothermal properties and good biocompatibility. These characteristics expand versatility of BP in nanomedicine. Although the outlook of BP seems promising, its practical biomedical applications are still at the very initial stage especially in comparison to other thoroughly investigated inorganic nanomaterials. This paper reviews BP structure and properties as well as its preparation approaches with the emphasis on techniques to improve BP stability and biocompatibility for their further usage in physiological environment. Meanwhile, recent progress made in various biomedical research fields from bioimaging to biosensing is discussed. Last, but not least, current challenges and prospects for BP in biomedicine are briefly examined, which will be useful to guide future developments of BP.

Conductive Biomaterials as Bioactive Wound Dressing for Wound Healing and Skin Tissue Engineering

“…Excitingly, novel 2D inorganic conductive nanomaterials as black phosphorus (BP) and transition metal carbides and nitrides (MXene) have recently attracted great attention for their electroactivity and demonstrated great potential in biomedical applications for the biodegradability, photothermal effect, and antibacterial activities [90][91][92][93][94]. On the other hand, their applications are hindered by poor stability under ambient conditions or in liquid medium [81,95].…”

“…Black phosphorus (BP) as a 2D layered semiconductor material demonstrates novel electrical and optical properties including excellent charge carrier mobility, tunable bandgap, and remarkable photothermal conversion efficiency [ 81 ]. Considering the excellent photothermal effect [ 91 ] and biocompatibility [ 90 ], BP has been regarded as a promising candidate for biomedical applications [ 91 ], such as cancer therapy [ 138 ], antibacterial therapy [ 139 ], and wound healing [ 94 ]. However, BP nanosheets are commonly synthesized via liquid exfoliation with organic solvents and could not stand a long-term usage because they would degrade rapidly under the physiological environment.…”

Recent Trends in Photoacoustic Imaging Techniques for 2D Nanomaterial-Based Phototherapy

“…BP have shown potential in biomedical applications with their strong optical absorption in the ultraviolet (UV) and NIR regions [ 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 ]. They have also demonstrated promising biocompatibility and biodegradation [ 101 ].…”

Black Phosphorus, an Emerging Versatile Nanoplatform for Cancer Immunotherapy

“…In the recent five years, biomedical applications of BP have been attached with more and more importance from researchers, and there have been a certain number of reviews that summarized the aforementioned applications from different perspectives. For example, Xiong et al reviewed BP’s structure, properties, preparation approaches, and techniques to improve BP’s stability and biocompatibility for its further application in the physiological environment [ 28 ]. Choi et al summarized the unique properties of BP through introducing its usage in biosensing, drug delivery, photoacoustic imaging and cancer treatment based on phototherapy [ 29 ].…”