Atomically precise photothermal nanomachines

doi:10.1038/s41563-023-01721-y

Atomically precise photothermal nanomachines

2023-11-13

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DOI：10.1038/s41563-023-01721-y

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Interfacing molecular machines to inorganic nanoparticles can, in principle, lead to hybrid nanomachines with extended functions. Here we demonstrate a ligand engineering approach to develop atomically precise hybrid nanomachines by interfacing gold nanoclusters with tetraphenylethylene molecular rotors. When gold nanoclusters are irradiated with near-infrared light, the rotation of surface-decorated tetraphenylethylene moieties actively dissipates the absorbed energy to sustain the photothermal nanomachine with an intact structure and steady efficiency. Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy reveal that the photogenerated hot electrons are rapidly cooled down within picoseconds via electron-phonon coupling in the nanomachine. We find that the nanomachine remains structurally and functionally intact in mammalian cells and in vivo. A single dose of near-infrared irradiation can effectively ablate tumours without recurrence in tumour-bearing mice, which shows promise in the development of nanomachine-based theranostics. Gold nanoclusters show promise as photothermal materials, but are often thermally unstable. Here ligand engineering is used to integrate molecular rotors with gold nanoclusters to dissipate thermal energy and improve photothermal therapy performance.

Keywords:

RELAXATION DYNAMICS

THERMAL TRANSPORT

GOLD

CLUSTER

Atomically precise photothermal nanomachines

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