Ultrathin Molybdenum Carbide MXene with Fast Biodegradability for Highly Efficient Theory‐Oriented Photonic Tumor Hyperthermia

Abstract

The explosion of emerging high-performance 2D MXenes in theranostic nanomedicine is still at the preliminary stage. Despite tremendous efforts devoted to photonic tumor hyperthermia, current photothermal-conversion nanoagents still suffer from critical issues preventing further clinical translation such as low biodegradability. Here, for the first time, the construction of novel 2D molybdenum carbide (Mo 2 C) MXenes for photonic tumor hyperthermia is reported. The structure of both bulk Mo 2 Ga 2 C ceramic and Mo 2 C MXene is fully revealed. Especially, computational simulation, as a novel strategy and a powerful tool for photonic-performance prediction, is employed to reveal that Mo 2 C MXene is featured with intense near-infrared (NIR) absorption, covering the first and the second biological transparency window (NIR I and II). After further surface engineering with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), Mo 2 C-PVA nanoflakes exhibit high biocompatibility and fast degradability. Importantly, it is experimentally corroborated that Mo 2 C-PVA nanoflakes possess intriguing broad absorption band spanning NIR in both the I and II regions, and desirable photothermal-conversion efficiency (24.5% for NIR I and 43.3% for NIR II). This study not only broadens the nanomedical applications of MXene by fabricating novel material members (Mo 2 C), but also provides the paradigm of inorganic multifunctional biomedical nanoplatform with desirable biodegradability and high therapeutic performance.

Two-dimensional metal carbides and nitrides (MXenes): preparation, property, and applications in cancer therapy

“…Feng et al also reported a new 2D molybdenum carbide MXene for photon tumor hyperthermia [92]. It was revealed that Mo 2 C MXene has strong NIR absorption characteristics, covering the first and second biological transparent windows (NIR-I and NIR-II).…”

Synthesis and recent applications of MXenes with Mo, V or Nb transition metals: a review

“…In recent years, Mo-based MXenes are found in a wide range of applications such as energy storage, electronics, and nanomedicine [48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56], as shown in Table 2.…”

Energy‐converting biomaterials for cancer therapy: Category, efficiency, and biosafety

“…Besides the above‐introduced radiation‐driven ROS‐ECBs, many other biomaterials have also been developed for improving radiotherapeutic efficacy, Especially for Bi‐based radiation‐driven ROS‐ECBs due to the unique benefits of Bi element including high atomic number and good photoelectric absorption coefficient (Feng et al, 2019; Shahbazi et al, 2020). To date, many kinds of Bi‐based radiation‐driven ROS‐ECBs have been used in RT, such as Bi nanoparticles (Yu et al, 2017), silica‐based bismuth‐gadolinium nanoparticles (Detappe et al, 2017), BiOI quantum dots (Wang, An, Lin, Tian, & Yang, 2020), BSA‐Coated BiOI@Bi 2 S 3 heterojunction nanoparticles (Guo et al, 2017), Au‐Bi 2 S 3 hetero‐nanostructure nanoparticles (Wang et al, 2019), BSA‐Bi 2 Se 3 nanodots (Mao et al, 2016), poly(vinylpyrollidone)‐and selenocysteine‐modified Bi 2 Se 3 nanoparticles (Du et al, 2017), FeSe 2 /Bi 2 Se 3 nanoparticles (Cheng et al, 2016), and MnSe@Bi 2 Se 3 nanoparticles (Song et al, 2015).…”

“…This work manifested proof of the concept of catalytic nanomedicine for efficient cancer therapy. Recently, to accelerate the disproportionation degree of H 2 O 2 , Feng, Wang, et al (2019) manifested the concept of photothermal‐enhanced sequential nanocatalytic therapy based on the optimization of Fe 3 O 4 /GOD‐functionalized polypyrrole (PPy)‐based composite biomaterials (Fe 3 O 4 @PPy@GOD) (Figure 4c). The elevation of the H 2 O 2 level in tumor was improved through glucose depletion with GOD.…”

“…For instance, Lin, Wang, et al (2017) constructed the biocompatible Ti 3 C 2 nanosheets with the high photothermal performance for the first time via HF etching and tetrapropylammonium hydroxide (TPAOH) intercalation (Figure 6b). To broaden the theranostic applications of MXenes, 2D Nb 2 C, and Mo 2 C MXenes were then fabricated for photothermal ablation in NIR‐II biowindow (Feng, Wang, et al, 2019). For instance, Nb 2 C nanosheets possessed highly efficient photothermal ablation and eradication of tumor cells due to the extraordinarily high PCE (Figure 6c, Lin, Wang, et al, 2017).…”