Abstract

Chemodynamic therapy (CDT) is an emerging treatment that usually employs chemical agents to decompose hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) into hydroxyl radical (•OH) via Fenton or Fenton-like reactions, inducing cell apoptosis or necrosis by damaging biomacromolecules such as, lipids, proteins, and DNA. Generally, CDT shows high tumor-specificity and minimal-invasiveness in patients, thus it has attracted extensive research interests. However, the catalytic reaction efficiency of CDT is largely limited by the relatively high pH at the tumor sites. Herein, a 808 nm laser-potentiated peroxidase catalytic/mild-photothermal therapy of molybdenum diphosphide nanorods (MoP 2 NRs) is developed to improve CDT performance, and simultaneously achieve effective tumor eradication and anti-infection. In this system, MoP 2 NRs exhibit a favorable cytocompatibility due to their inherent excellent elemental biocompatibility. Upon irradiation with an 808 nm laser, MoP 2 NRs act as photosensitizers to efficiently capture the photo-excited band electrons and valance band holes, exhibiting enhanced peroxidase-like catalytic activity to sustainedly decompose tumor endogenous H 2 O 2 to •OH, which subsequently destroy the cellular biomacromolecules both in tumor cells and bacteria. As demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo, this system exhibits a superior therapeutic efficiency with inappreciable toxicity. Hence, the work may provide a promising therapeutic technique for further clinical applications.