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Most anticancer drugs with broad toxicities are systematically administrated to cancer patients and their distribution in tumors is extremely low owing to hypoxia, which compromises the therapeutic efficacies of these cancer drugs. Consequently, a preponderant proportion of cancer drugs is distributed in off-target-healthy tissues, which often causes severe adverse effects. Precision cancer therapy without overdosing patients with drugs remains one of the most challenging issues in cancer therapy. Here, a novel concept of nanopoxia is presented, which is a tumor-hypoxia-based photodynamic nanoplatform for the release of therapeutic agents to achieve precision cancer therapy. Under tumor hypoxia, exposure of tumors to laser irradiation induces the fracture of polymer outer shell and produces anticancer reactive oxygen species, and switches 2D antimonene (Sb) nanomaterials to cytotoxic trivalent antimony to synergistically kill tumors. In preclinical cancer models, delivery of Sb nanomaterials to mice virtually ablates tumor growth without producing any detectable adverse effects. Mechanistically, the tumor hypoxiatriggered generation of trivalent antimony displays direct damaging effects on cancer cells and suppression of tumor angiogenesis. Together, the study provides a proof-of-concept of hypoxia-based precision cancer therapy by developing a novel nanoplatform that offers multifarious mechanisms of cancer eradication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non‐invasive cancer photothermal therapy (PTT) is a promising replacement for traditional cancer treatments. The second near‐infrared region induced PTT (NIR‐II PTT, 1000–1500 nm) with less energy dissipation has been developed for deeper‐seated tumor treatment in recent years compared with the traditional first near‐infrared light (750–1000 nm). In addition, the use of emerging inorganic 2D nanomaterials as photothermal agents (PTAs) further enhanced PTT efficiency due to their intrinsic photothermal properties. NIR‐II light stimulated inorganic 2D nanomaterials for PTT is becoming a hot topic in both academic and clinical fields. This review summarizes the categories, structures, and photothermal conversion properties of inorganic 2D nanomaterials for the first time. The recent synergistic strategies of NIR‐II responsive PTT combined with other treatment approaches including chemotherapy, chemodynamic therapy, photodynamic therapy, radiotherapy are summarized. The future challenges and perspectives on these 2D nanomaterials for NIR‐II responsive PTT systems construction are further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanomaterials‐based photothermal therapy (PTT) could efficiently eliminate cancer cells in a noninvasive manner. However, nanoscale photosensitizers still suffer from several drawbacks, limiting them from being an ideal PTT approach against cancer. These include unfavorable biodistribution and poor retention in tumor tissue. In this study, acid‐activatable smart self‐assembly of black phosphorous (BP) and polyoxometalates (POM) is carried out to yield POM@BP with prolonged tumor retention and enhanced efficacy of PTT. The as‐rationally designed POM@BP photosensitizers in acidic tumor microenvironments self‐assemble into nanoparticles with larger sizes, remarkably increasing the light absorption ability of BP nanosheets in PTT of cancer. The as‐obtained POM@BP endows prolonged retention and enhances the photothermal response in tumor tissue by smart self‐assembly of BP into larger nanoparticles. In summary, the proposed potent approach for the rational design and tailor photosensitizer for cancer treatment looks very promising for future scientific breakthroughs in nanomedicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphorene as a rising star is a monolayer or few‐layer form of black phosphorus (BP), which is used as a 2D material, in addition to graphene. This monoelemental 2D material has gained considerable attention in the fields of electronics, optoelectronics, and biomedicine due to its extraordinary physical properties. However, as both theoretical and experimental works show, the intrinsic instability of phosphorene under ambient conditions is a major challenge in practical applications. Various theoretical and experimental researches regarding the mechanism of the degradation and passivation strategies are proposed and reported to overcome the problem of the ambient instability of phosphorene. These strategies have enabled researchers to conduct fundamental studies on phosphorene's extraordinary properties. Here, not only an extensive summary of these passivation strategies but also an overview of the fabrication methods, challenges, and suitable applications of phosphorene are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]