Reduced Graphene Oxide/Mesoporous Silica Nanocarriers for pH-Triggered Drug Release and Photothermal Therapy

A sandwich structured bifunctional nanocarrier (rGO@msilica) composed of an inner layer of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and an outer layer of mesoporous silica (msilica) was developed for synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy. The rGO@msilica not only acted as a pH-triggered drug nanocarrier but also worked as a near-infrared (NIR) photothermal agent. The loaded drug, doxorubicin (DOX), in the rGO@msilica nanocarrier was controllably released in the acidic tumor microenvironment. Moreover, the cancer cells were ablated by laser irradiation (808 nm), contributing to the high photothermal conversion efficiency of the rGO core. With this two-in-one system, in vitro cancer cell experiments indicated that the synergistic therapeutic strategy was superior to those of single modality therapy. These findings imply that the bifunctional rGO@msilica nanocarrier could provide a powerful platform for cancer therapy.