Near-Infrared Copper Sulfide Hollow Nanostructures with Enhanced Photothermal and Photocatalytic Performance for Effective Bacterial Sterilization

The development of nonantibiotic strategies to combat bacterial infection is highly needed, owing to the widespread infectious disease and bacterial resistance becoming a significant health threat to the world’s population. In recent years, photoactivated antibacterial therapies including photocatalytic and photothermal therapies have attracted increasing attention due to their high efficiency and low side effect. Herein, we introduce a copper sulfide (Cu2–xS) hollow nanostructure-based near-infrared antibacterial platform with synergy photothermal and photocatalytic properties for effective bacterial sterilization. Compared to traditional Cu2–xS nanoparticles, this unique hollow Cu2–xS nanostructure can generate multiple scattered light, which is conducive to light collection. Moreover, its thin shell can shorten the transmission distance of carrier, thus reducing the charge recombination that usually causes the greatest energy loss. As a result, such a Cu2–xS hollow nanostructure enables enhanced photothermal and photocatalytic bacterial killing activities against both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, showing promise for antibiotic-free infection treatment and other bacterial sterilization applications.