Photothermal performance of MFe2O4 nanoparticles

In this paper, we synthesized three kinds of ferrites and investigated their photothermal property. The result indicated that the photothermal effect of Fe3O4 and MnFe2O4 nanoparticles declined while that of ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles maintained relatively stable after preservation for 70 days, and then ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles could effectively kill cancer cells under NIR laser. [Display omitted] Photothermal therapy (PTT) has emerged as one of the promising cancer therapy approaches. As a representative photothermal agent (PTA), magnetite possesses many advantages such as biodegradability and biocompatibility. However, photothermal instability hampers its further application. Herein, we systematically synthesized three kinds of ferrite nanoparticles and detailedly investigated their photothermal effect. Compared with Fe3O4 and MnFe2O4 nanoparticles, ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles exhibited a superior photothermal effect. After preservation for 70 days, the photothermal effect of Fe3O4 and MnFe2O4 nanoparticles observably declined while ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles showed slight decrease. Furthermore, in vitro experiment, ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles showed little toxicity to cells and achieved outstanding effect in killing cancer cells under NIR laser irradiation. Overall, through synthesizing and studying three kinds of ferrite MFe2O4 nanoparticles, we obtained ferrites as PTAs and learned about their changing trend in photothermal effect, expecting it can inspire further exploration of photothermal agents.