Phase-engineered 1T-MoS2-Silk fibroin nanohybrid for efficient photothermal cancer therapy

In recent years, the development of nanomaterials with efficient photothermal response has attracted widespread attention as a novel approach to non-invasive cancer treatment. In this study, the MoS 2 -Silk fibroin hybrid was synthesized with targeted MoS 2 phase engineering from 2H to 1 T to enhance the photothermal efficiency. Various characterization techniques, including XRD, FTIR, Raman, XPS, SEM, and TEM, confirmed the successful hybridization process. Photothermal evaluations showed that the optimal composition, with a 0.10:1 SF-to-1T-MoS 2 ratio (MS0.10), increased the solution temperature by about 53 °C after 7 min of NIR laser irradiation. The effects of nanohybrid concentration, laser power, and thermal stability were also investigated, and the results indicated that the nanohybrid exhibited stable, efficient performance under different conditions. Biocompatibility studies on L-929 fibroblast cells showed that the MoS 2 -SF nanohybrid (MS0.10) at a relatively high concentration of 5 mg/mL maintained a viability of about 75% after 3 days of culture, indicating good biocompatibility. In addition, an MTT assay on MCF-7 breast cancer cells showed that after 7 min of NIR irradiation with MS0.10 (200 μg/mL), tumor cell viability decreased to approximately 31%, confirming the high efficiency of this nanohybrid in inducing cell death. Overall, the results of this study indicate that the MoS 2 -SF nanohybrid, in its 1 T phase and with enhanced photothermal performance, can be proposed as a promising nanoplatform for photothermal cancer therapy.