Light-driven liquid metal nanotransformers for biomedical theranostics

• Main Authors: Chechetka, Svetlana A., Yu, Yue, Zhen, Xu, Pramanik, Manojit, Pu, Kanyi, Miyako, Eijiro
• Other Authors: School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Physicochemical Property; Genetic Analysis
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/89514; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/44964
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Room temperature liquid metals (LMs) represent a class of emerging multifunctional materials with attractive novel properties. Here, we show that photopolymerized LMs present a unique nanoscale capsule structure characterized by high water dispersibility and low toxicity. We also demonstrate that the LM nanocapsule generates heat and reactive oxygen species under biologically neutral near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation. Concomitantly, NIR laser exposure induces a transformation in LM shape, destruction of the nanocapsules, contactless controlled release of the loaded drugs, optical manipulations of a microfluidic blood vessel model and spatiotemporal targeted marking for X-ray-enhanced imaging in biological organs and a living mouse. By exploiting the physicochemical properties of LMs, we achieve effective cancer cell elimination and control of intercellular calcium ion flux. In addition, LMs display a photoacoustic effect in living animals during NIR laser treatment, making this system a powerful tool for bioimaging.