Inorganic–organic hybrid nanomaterials for photothermal antibacterial therapy

The clinical management of bacterial infections has become a growing global public health challenge. Such therapy is presently limited to antibiotics, but the misuse of antibiotics has led to multi-drug resistance and high mortality rates in anti-infective treatment. Therefore, it is critical to develop alternative biocides to open up new avenues of disinfection. Photothermal therapy (PTT), which usually kills bacteria by hyperthermia produced by photothermal agents (PTAs) under laser irradiation, has sparked increasing concern due to its low invasiveness, deep penetration, high selectivity, and avoidance of drug-resistant bacteria. Inorganic–organic hybrid nanomaterials that merge inorganic and organic elements can integrate the distinctive advantages of both while mitigating their innate shortcomings, displaying tremendous potential in the field of PTT antibacterial. In this review, we first briefly describe various strategies for fabricating functional inorganic–organic nanohybrid PTAs. Subsequently, the properties of the nanohybrid PTAs are discussed, covering characteristics from inorganic and organic parts, synergistic features, morphology dependence, and self-assembly of the nanohybrids. After that, the current status of nanohybrids for PTT antibacterial is demonstrated. Finally, we summarize and discuss some key issues, current challenges, and future developments in the rational synthesis of inorganic–organic nanohybrid PTAs for photothermal antibacterial therapy.