Department of Chemistry, Università degli Studi di Pavia, v. Taramelli 12, 27100, Pavia, Italy.
Department of Physics "G. Occhialini", Università Milano Bicocca, p.zza della Scienza 3, XX100, Milano, Italy.
Chemistry. 2021 Nov 5;27(62):15361-15374. doi: 10.1002/chem.202102123. Epub 2021 Sep 30.
The photothermal properties of nanoparticles (NPs), that is, their ability to convert absorbed light into heat, have been studied since the end of the last century, mainly on gold NPs. In the new millennium, these studies have developed into a burst of research dedicated to the photothermal ablation of tumors. However, beside this strictly medical theme, research has also flourished in the connected areas of photothermal antibacterial surface coatings, gels and polymers, of photothermal surfaces for cell stimulation, as well as in purely technological areas that do not involve medical biotechnology. These include the direct conversion of solar light into heat, a more efficient sun-powered generation of steam and the use of inkjet-printed patterns of photothermal NPs for anticounterfeit printing based on temperature reading, to cite but a few. After an analysis of the photothermal effect (PTE) and its mechanism, this minireview briefly considers the antitumor-therapy theme and takes an in-depth look at all the other technological and biomedical applications of the PTE, paying particular attention to photothermal materials whose NPs have joined those based on Au.
纳米粒子（NPs）的光热特性，即它们将吸收的光转化为热的能力，自上世纪末以来一直受到研究，主要是针对金 NPs。在新千年，这些研究发展成了一股专门用于肿瘤光热消融的研究热潮。然而，除了这个严格的医学主题，相关的研究也在光热抗菌表面涂层、凝胶和聚合物、细胞刺激用光热表面以及不涉及医疗生物技术的纯技术领域蓬勃发展。这些领域包括将太阳能直接转化为热能，更有效地利用太阳能产生蒸汽，以及使用喷墨打印的光热 NPs 图案进行基于温度读取的防伪印刷等。在分析光热效应（PTE）及其机制之后，这篇简短综述简要考虑了抗肿瘤治疗主题，并深入探讨了 PTE 的所有其他技术和生物医学应用，特别关注那些 NPs 基于除金以外的其他材料的光热材料。
