Introduction: Near-infrared (NIR) hyperthermia agents are promising in cancer photothermal therapy due to their deeper penetration ability and less side effects. Spherical gold nanoshell and graphene-based nanomaterials are two major NIR hyperthermia agents that have been reported for photothermal therapy of cancer. Herein, we constructed a two-dimensional graphene oxide-template gold nanosheet (GO@SiO₂@AuNS) hybrid that could destruct cancer cells with efficient photothermal effect.
Methods: Graphene oxide was coated with a layer of mesoporous silica, which provided binding sites for gold seeds. Then, seed-growth method was utilized to grow a layer of gold nanosheet to form the GO@SiO₂@AuNS hybrid, which possessed great biocompatibility and high photothermal conversion efficiency.
Results: With the irradiation of NIR laser (808 nm) with low power density (0.3 W/cm²), GO@SiO₂@AuNS hybrid showed a photothermal conversion efficiency of 30%, leading to a temperature increase of 16.4 °C in water. Colorectal cancer cells (KM12C) were killed with the treatment of GO@SiO₂@AuNS hybrid under NIR irradiation.
Conclusion: The GO@SiO₂@AuNS hybrid may expand the library of the 2D nanostructures based on gold for cancer photothermal therapy.
Keywords: graphene oxide, gold nanosheets, photothermal therapy, near-infrared