Heterojunction nanomaterials have revealed a significant possibility in tumor diagnosis and therapeutic owing to tightly combining two parts of different chemical properties. Herein, we successfully synthesized heterogenous Fe3O4-Ag2S nanocrystals through a reverse microemulsion. Based on the prepared heterostructure, a new drug nanoplatform was developed, which served as a contrast agent for T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography imaging, and photothermal imaging. In addition, these Fe3O4-Ag2S heteronanocrystals exhibited a high photothermal conversion efficiency of 75.5% irradiated by a laser of 808 nm wavelength. After injection into glioma cancer mode in vivo, efficient tumor accumulation of Fe3O4-Ag2S heteronanocrystals was observed under triple-modal imaging. The prepared heteronanocrystals further showed an excellent ablated tumor destruction effect through the generated hyperthermia with the irradiation of an 808 nm laser. Our work suggests that the potential of Fe3O4-Ag2S heteronanocrystals may be a promising theranostic agent for multimodal imaging guidance and photothermal therapy toward cancer.
Keywords: contrast agent; heteronanocrystals; photothermal therapy; reverse microemulsion.