Multifunctional hierarchical mesoporous silica and black phosphorus nanohybrids as chemo-photothermal synergistic agents for enhanced cancer therapy

Synergistic therapy with high efficacy and low side effects is of great significance in cancer treatment, and therefore the elaborate design of advanced nanocarriers to benefit diverse loading requirements of size-varied therapy agents is of critical importance. Herein, we demonstrate a multifunctional drug carrier platform based on a hierarchical porous and -NH2-modified silica nanocarrier (FMSN) with a super high specific surface area and a large pore volume, which not only improves the loading capacity of both doxorubicin, a chemotherapeutic drug, and black phosphorus quantum dots (BPQDs), a kind of biocompatible photothermal agent, but also enhances the photothermal stability and biostability of the degradable BPQDs. The unique structure and surface design enable our multimodal platform with heat-stimulative, pH-responsive and sustained-release properties for chemo-photothermal synergistic cancer therapy. Both cytotoxicity experiments and in vivo study reveal that the combined therapy based on our multifunctional nanohybrids mediates the highest death rate of cancer cells compared to that of single chemotherapy or photothermal therapy. Our hierarchical mesoporous strategy provides an excellent drug delivery model for advanced chemo-photothermal synergistic targeted cancer therapy.