Vacancy Augmented Piezo‐Sonosensitizer for Cancer Therapy

Abstract

Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) has been widely reported as a noninvasive and high‐penetration therapy for cancer; however, the design of an efficient sonosensitizer remains an urgent need. To address this issue, molybdenum disulfide nanoflowers (MoS2 NF) as piezo‐sonosensitizers and introduced sulfur vacancies on the MoS2 NF (Sv‐MoS2 NF) to improve their piezoelectric property for cancer therapy are designed. Under ultrasonic mechanical stress, the Sv‐MoS2 NF resulted in piezoelectric polarization and band tilting, which enhanced the charge carrier separation and migration. This resulted in an improved catalytic reaction for reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, ultimately enhancing the SDT performance. Thanks to the high efficiency of ROS generation, the Sv‐MoS2 NF have demonstrated a good anticancer effect in vitro and in vivo. Following a systematic evaluation, Sv‐MoS2 NF also demonstrated good biocompatibility. This novel piezo‐sonosensitizer and vacancy engineering strategy provides a promising new approach for achieving efficient SDT.

Progress of Piezoelectric Semiconductor Nanomaterials in Sonodynamic Cancer Therapy

“…62 It belongs to the semiconductor category and has advantages such as good electron migration rate, direct band gap, low price, easy fabrication, and nontoxicity due to its noncentrosymmetric and piezoelectric effect. 63 More importantly, compared to other piezoelectric semiconductor sonosensitizers, Wu et al found that MoS 2 also exhibited specific biomimetic activity of glutathione (GSH) oxidases compared to BaTiO 3 , BiFeO 3 , ZnO, and many other piezoelectric materials, enabling it to effectively promote GSH oxidation, which is of great significance for tumor therapy. 64 3).…”

“…Molybdenum disulfide was first synthesized in 2008, consisting of a molybdenum atom and a pair of atoms from the 16th column of the periodic table, including sulfur and selenium elements . It belongs to the semiconductor category and has advantages such as good electron migration rate, direct band gap, low price, easy fabrication, and nontoxicity due to its noncentrosymmetric and piezoelectric effect …”

Defect-rich sonosensitizers based on CeO2 with Schottky heterojunctions for boosting sonodynamic/chemodynamic synergistic therapy

“…11 Recently, some inorganic semiconductor materials exhibited good potential as sonosensitizers due to their good stability, long circulation time, and ease of functionalization, including TiO 2 , black phosphorus (BP), MoS 2 , etc. 12–14 However, the fast recombination of ultrasound (US)-excited electrons and holes resulted in unsatisfactory reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation efficiency, constraining their further application in clinics. 15 Therefore, it is urgent to develop a high-efficiency inorganic sonosensitizer for cancer therapy.…”