Size-transformable nanostructures : from design to biomedical applications

The size of nanostructures (NSs) strongly affects their chemical and physical properties and further impacts their actions in biological systems. Both small and large NSs possess respective advantages for disease theranostics, and this therefore presents a paradox when choosing NSs with suitable siz...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zhang, Xiaodong, Chen, Xiaokai, Song, Jun, Zhang, Junmin, Ren, Xiangzhong, Zhao, Yanli
Other Authors: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/146303
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
Description
Summary:The size of nanostructures (NSs) strongly affects their chemical and physical properties and further impacts their actions in biological systems. Both small and large NSs possess respective advantages for disease theranostics, and this therefore presents a paradox when choosing NSs with suitable sizes. To overcome this challenge, size-transformable NSs have emerged as a powerful tool, as they can be manipulated to possess the merits of both types of NSs. Herein, various strategies to construct size-transformable NSs are summarized, and the recent research progress regarding their biomedical applications, particularly within the fields of cancer and bacterial theranostics, is highlighted. This review will inspire researchers to further develop various methods that can be used to construct size-transformable NSs for use in novel applications within different fields.