Gold nanostars decorated MnO2 nanosheets for magnetic resonance imaging and photothermal erasion of lung cancer cell

We report a facile fabrication approach for sensitive theranostic nanoprobe - gold nanostars@MnO2 nanosheets, by which gold nanostars were grown on the surface of MnO2 nanosheets. Owing to the ability of gold nanostars to absorb light at near infrared (NIR) wavelength, the nanoprobe showed excellent photothermal conversion effect, while exhibited tumor microenvironment-responsive magnetic resonance imaging property due to the redox property of MnO2 nanosheets. Amazingly, photothermal irradiation experiment showed that the nanoprobe sensitively triggered lung cancer cell death, while produced negligible effect on normal lung epithelial cells. Therefore, these demonstrate that the nanoprobe may have potential application in magnetic resonance imaging-guided photothermal therapy of lung cancer.