Recent Advances On Black Phosphorus For Biomedicine And Biosensing

Black phosphorus nanostructures (nano-BPs) include BP nanosheets, BP quantum dots, and BP nanoparticles. Since first being discovered in 2014, nano-BP has become one of the most popular nanomaterials. Nano-BP has many unique properties, such as excellent surface activity, tunable bandgap, high carrier mobility, moderate on/off ratio, excellent biocompatibility, good biodegradation, etc., all of which make nano-BP particularly attractive in biomedicine and biosensing. This review article comprehensively summarizes recent advances in synthesis, functionalization, biomedicine, and biosensing applications of nano-BP. Different methods are first introduced, such as mechanical cleavage, liquid-phase ultrasonic exfoliation, electrochemical exfoliation, solvothermal treatment, and acoustic-microfluidic stripping, for making the nano-BP. Then two strategies are emphasized to enhance ambient stability of nano-BP, namely physical encapsulation and chemical modification. Next, how to develop nano-BP as advanced imaging agents, nanocarriers, and nanomedicine for bioimaging (fluorescence imaging, thermal imaging, and photoacoustic imaging) and disease treatment (phototherapy and photo/chemical/immune synergistic therapy) is demonstrated. The biosensing applications on nano-BP is introduced, including electrochemical biosensor, fluorescence biosensor, chemiluminescence biosensor, electrogenerated chemiluminescence biosensor, and colorimetric biosensor. Finally, the current challenges and future perspectives on nano-BP in bioapplications are discussed.