摘要
Clinical applications of current photodynamic therapy (PDT) agents are often restricted to be activated only by UV and visible light, which have very poor tissue penetration depths. In this study, a new near infrared (NIR)-absorbing nanoagent based on graphene oxide decorated with iron hydroxide/oxide (GO-FeO x H) was developed for light-activated nanomaterial-mediated PDT. This nanocomposite, GO-FeO x H was prepared via the one-step electrooxidation of iron nails in an aqueous GO solution. The as-prepared GO-FeO x H showed a much higher reactive oxygen species (ROS) activity under NIR light irradiation than GO. Through a variety of spectroscopic analyses, the mechanism involved in the enhancement of ROS activity of GO by FeO x H was systematically investigated. We observed that NIR light irradiation promotes electron transfer from GO to the Fe(iii) of FeO x H and accelerates their reaction with O 2 , forming superoxide anion radicals, which then undergo a disproportionation reaction to produce H 2 O 2 . H 2 O 2 then reacts with Fe(ii) in FeO x H to mediate Fenton reactions, producing amplified hydroxyl radicals. Using in vitro studies, we demonstrated that GO-FeO x H can be used as a NIR activatable PDT nanoagent, providing efficient cancer therapy.