Research progress of near-infrared photothermal conversion nanocrystals

Near-infrared photothermal(PT) conversion nanocrystals(NCs), due to their excellent PT conversion performance in near-infrared region(generally in range of 780-1400 nm), has a wide application potential in the field of cancer cell killing, tumor therapy as well as desalination. These NCs attracted great attention on PT imaging and PT therapy, because of their diverse liquid phase synthesize methods, morphology-controll, nanostructure composite, increasing PT conversion efficiency and easy functionalization. This review aimed to summarize the research progress of near-infrared PT conversion NCs, including noble metal NCs, copper chalcogenide semiconductor NCs, carbon-related NCs, hybrid structure composed of nanocrystalline materials. In addition, the research progress of surface plasmon resonance(SPR) materials with high photothermal conversion efficiency is introduced, especially the application prospect of dual-mode SPR coupling in the field of photothermal conversion. Through the research on the literatures at home and abroad, it is known that the hybrid nanocrystals with dual mode surface plasmon resonance coupling will be an important direction for the development of photothermal conversion nanocrystals in recent years due to the characteristics of performance coordination and coupling.