Piezotronic Effect-Augmented Cu_2–xO–BaTiO₃ Sonosensitizers for Multifunctional Cancer Dynamic Therapy

Abstract

Ultrasound (US)-triggered sonodynamic therapy (SDT) based on semiconductor nanomaterials has attracted considerable attention for cancer therapy. However, most inorganic sonosensitizers suffer from low efficiency due to the rapid recombination of electron–hole pairs. Herein, the Cu2–x O–BaTiO3 piezoelectric heterostructure was fabricated as a sonosensitizer and chemodynamic agent, simultaneously, for improving reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and cancer therapeutic outcome. Under US irradiation, the Cu2–x O–BaTiO3 heterojunction with a piezotronic effect exhibits high-performance singlet oxygen (1O2) and hydroxyl radical (•OH) generation to enhance SDT. Moreover, it possesses Fenton-like reaction activity to convert endogenous H2O2 into •OH for chemodynamic therapy (CDT). The integration of SDT and CDT substantially boosts ROS generation and cellular mitochondria damage, and the in vitro and in vivo results demonstrate high cytotoxicity and tumor inhibition on murine refractory breast cancer. This work realizes improvement in cancer therapy using piezoelectric heterostructures with piezotronic effects.

Copper-cysteamine nanoparticle-mediated microwave dynamic therapy improves cancer treatment with induction of ferroptosis

“…TME greatly affects the efficacy of nanomaterials, one exception are Cu(I)-based nanoparticles which are more versatile in weakly acidic environments and actually give high ·OH yield [ 7 ]. The reaction rate of Cu(I) based Fenton reaction is much greater than that of Fe-based Fenton reaction [ 8 ].…”

Piezotronic and piezo‐phototronic effects on sonodynamic disease therapy

“…Recently, our group designed and fabricated the Cu 2-x O-BTO piezoelectric heterostructure as a sonosensitizer for the combination of SDT and chemodynamic therapy (CDT) against cancer (Figure 4a). [91] When Cu 2-x O-BTO was activated by US stimulation, the polarized piezoelectric [107] The in vivo experiments also demonstrated that the combination of SDT and CDT achieved potent tumor inhibition in 4T1 tumor-bearing mice (Figure 4b). It is noteworthy that the CDT efficacy can be further promoted with the assistance of US through electron lever strategy due to the increased electron density of the active sites in the piezoelectric perovskite nanocrystals.…”

“…As a kind of classical perovskites nanomaterial, asymmetric tetragonal BaTiO 3 nanoparticles (T-BTO NPs) can establish a dynamic built-in electric field under US vibration, by which the separation of e − and h + occurred continuously to trigger redox reactions and produce ROS. [90][91][92] Inspired by the piezoelectric effect, Zhu et al prepared T-BTO NPs with a diameter of 106.91 � 49.72 nm via a typical hydrothermal method, which was used as a new kind of sonosensitizer for cancer SDT. [90] The results of electron spin resonance (ESR) demonstrated that T-BTO aqueous solution showed distinct •OH and •O 2 − characteristic signals under US irradiation, while no significant radical signal was detected in the mere T-BTO or US groups.…”

Hollow CoP@N–Carbon Nanospheres: Heterostructure and Glucose-Enhanced Charge Separation for Sonodynamic/Starvation Therapy

“…It is found that SDT is similar to photocatalytic oxidation, and the difference is just irradiation conditions. Inspired from photocatalysis, sonosensitizers with narrow band gaps are considered as candidates to increase the number of generated charges. , Besides the construction of heterostructures, the addition of scavengers is also an effective approach to inhibit electron–hole recombination to enhance catalytic performance. Considering the complexity of the tumor microenvironment (TME), it is more likely to use some intracellular constituents as scavengers, such as endogenous glutathione (GSH), to decrease the risk of side effects from other additives.…”