Synthesis of urchin-like W18O49 and its application in photocatalysis and tumor photothermal therapy

In this study, using diethylene glycol as a soft template and one-step solvothermal method, we synthesized sea urchin-like W 18 O 49 . The physicochemical test results showed that the obtained W 18 O 49 had excellent adsorption and photocatalytic activity. In addition, the obtained sea urchin-like W 18 O 49 exhibited strong near-infrared absorption performance and high photothermal conversion efficiency of 41.8% under the irradiation of 980 nm laser. After 480 s of 980 nm laser irradiation (2.0 W/cm 2 ), the temperature of its aqueous dispersion (1.0 mg/mL) could rise by 49.1 °C rapidly. The results of the cell culture in vitro and the animal experiments in vivo showed that W 18 O 49 had good biocompatibility and could effectively inhibit melanoma cells (B16F10) by using the photothermal effect, showing a good application prospect.