Flexible use of commercial rhenium disulfide for various theranostic applications.

Rhenium disulfide (ReS) with distinct physicochemical properties has shown promising potential in disease theranostics, such as drug delivery, computed tomography (CT), radiotherapy, and photothermal therapy (PTT). However, the synthesis and post-modification of ReS agents for different application scenarios are time- and energy-consuming, which seriously hinders the clinical translation of ReS. Herein, we proposed three facile excipient strategies for different theranostic applications of ReS just through the flexible use of commercial ReS powder. Three excipients, including sodium alginate (ALG), xanthan gum (XG), and ultraviolet-cured resin (UCR), were used to prepare different dosage forms of commercial ReS powder, like hydrogel, suspension, and capsule, respectively. These dosage forms of ReS with distinct characteristics showed great potential for second near-infrared window PTT against tumours, gastric spectral CT imaging, and functional evaluation of the digestive tract . In addition, these ReS formulations exhibited good biocompatibility both and , showing a promising prospect for clinical transformation. More importantly, the facile excipient strategies for commercial agents pave a bridge to the development and wide bioapplication of many other theranostic biomaterials.