Novel acceptor-donor-acceptor structured small molecule-based nanoparticles for highly efficient photothermal therapy.

Herein, acceptor-donor-acceptor structured small molecule (ITIC) based nanoparticles (NPs) were explored for photothermal therapy application. ITIC NPs show red-shift absorption in the near-infrared region, high photostability, and high photothermal conversion efficiency under laser irradiation, presenting both excellent cancer cell cytotoxicity in vitro and tumor ablation in vivo.