Photothermally Enhanced Photodynamic Therapy Delivered by Nano-Graphene Oxide

Graphene with unique physical and chemical properties has shown various potential applications in biomedicine. In this work, a photosensitizer molecule, Chlorin e6 (Ce6), is loaded on polyethylene glycol (PEG)-functionalized graphene oxide (GO) via supramolecular π-π stacking. The obtained GO-PEG-Ce6 complex shows excellent water solubility and is able to generate cytotoxic singlet oxygen under light excitation for photodynamic therapy (PDT). Owing to the significantly enhanced intracellular trafficking of photosensitizers, our GO-PEG-Ce6 complex offers a remarkably improved cancer cell photodynamic destruction effect compared to free Ce6. More importantly, we show that the photothermal effect of graphene can…