Near-Infrared-Driven Photocatalysis of Lotus-Derived Porous Microcomposites for Synergistic Antibacterial and Cancer Therapy

Single-modal therapies for bacterial infections and tumors suffer from critical bottlenecks, including insufficient reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, glutathione (GSH)-mediated ROS scavenging, poor targeting, and non-responsive drug release. Herein, a novel biomass-based multifunctional microcomposite (Pt/TiO 2 -D@Lotus) was constructed using natural lotus pollen-derived porous microparticles as the biocompatible matrix, modified with Pt/TiO 2 Janus Schottky heterojunction, and loaded with doxorubicin (DOX). Under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation, the heterojunction efficiently separates photoexcited charges to boost ROS (•O 2 − , •OH, 1 O 2 ) production and depletes 70% of intracellular GSH (500 µg mL −1 ) to amplify oxidative stress. The microcomposite shows a high photothermal conversion efficiency of 55.4% and pH/NIR dual-responsive DOX release (90% release at pH 5.0 + NIR). In vitro experiments demonstrate >99% antibacterial efficiency against S. aureus and E. coli, and ∼85% cancer cell apoptosis rate. In vivo antitumor therapy achieves a 92% tumor inhibition rate with negligible systemic toxicity and good biocompatibility. This work innovatively constructs a biomass-derived synergistic therapeutic platform, providing a feasible strategy to overcome the core limitations of traditional antibacterial and tumor therapies, and expanding the application of biomass materials in biomedicine.