Different-sized black phosphorus nanosheets with good cytocompatibility and high photothermal performance

As a new kind of two-dimensional (2D) material, black phosphorus (BP) has attracted explosive interest in biomedical applications. It is well-recognized that the biomedical performances of nanoparticles depend not only on their properties, but also on their structures and dimensions. Here in this study, we successfully prepared three kinds of BP nanosheets with different sizes, then systematically investigated their cytocompatibility and photothermal effects to ablate cancer cells. It is evident from various assays that all the three BP samples have excellent cytocompatibility, and the BP nanosheets with a large size have better photothermal efficiency for cancer cell ablation. Our findings may provide a new insight into the fundamental cyto-performances of BP.