Interface‐Hybridization‐Enhanced Photothermal Performance of Polypyrrole/Polydopamine Heterojunctions on Porous Nanoparticles

作者：Jixi Huang, Shuai Wang, Yuxin Xing, Wei Zhou, Jixi Zhang, Kaiyong Cai · 发表于：Macromolecular Rapid Communications · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1002/marc.201900263 · 被引用次数：32 · 研究领域：Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods、Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques、Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics

Photothermal conversion agents (PTCAs) based on π-conjugated polymers are promising for cancer therapy, but the alteration of bandgap energies toward boosted photothermal properties remains challenging. Herein, polymer PTCAs with heterojunctions of a binary optical component are developed by interface hybridization on porous particles. Specifically, polypyrrole (PPy) nanodomains are successfully hosted on the wet-adhesive surface of mesoporous polydopamine nanoparticles through the loading and polymerization of pyrrole in the confined pore space (≈5.0 nm). The near-infrared absorbing polymers in the heterojunctions possess similar five-membered heterocyclic rings and can interact mutually to generate photoinduced electron transfer (PET). Such a large-area optoelectronic interaction progressively reduces the bandgap energy (down to 0.56 eV) by increasing the doped amount of PPy, which consequently enhances the extinction coefficient and photothermal conversion efficiency by 4.6- and 2.2-fold, respectively. Notably, the hybrid PTCA exhibits good biocompatibility, photocytotoxicity, and great potential for cancer therapy.