Designing a System for Measuring and Optimizing the Photothermal Conversion Efficiencies of Two Dimensional Nanomaterials for Cancer Therapy
Abstract
Cancer is a devastating disease with no definitive cure currently. Current treatments are invasive
and can cause inreprepable damage to the human body. Alternative cancer treatment methods
involving nanomaterials have been sought primarily for their ability to treat cancer
non-invasively. This is accomplished in a variety of ways and combinations of treatments such as
photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy and drug delivery. In this thesis, the photothermal
properties of tungsten and molybdenum compounds are studied for prospective use in
photothermal therapy cancer treatments.
A femtosecond laser is used to alter the morphology, stoichiometry and chemistry of the tungsten
disulfide (WS2) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) starting materials. This resulted in a novel
synthesis method for creating two dimensional (2D) tungsten semi-carbide (W2C) through
carburizing WS2 and synthesizing plasmonic substoichiometric molybdenum oxide (MoO3-x)
through the partial oxidation of MoS2. These novel nanomaterials were then characterized using
grazing incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Raman spectroscopy to
confirm the corresponding carburization and partial oxidation.
Optical and photothermal studies were conducted to determine the feasibility of these materials
as a photothermal agent used in photothermal therapy. Absorption spectroscopy was used to
study the materials’ interaction with light, specifically in the near infrared (NIR) wavelengths. A
custom measurement system was designed and engineered to measure the photothermal
conversion efficiency (PTCE) of both the 2D W2C and the plasmonic MoO3-x. The PTCE was measured to be 27% and 33% for the 2D W2C and the plasmonic MoO3-x, respectively. This
suggests both materials are strong candidates as a photothermal agent for use in photothermal
therapy.
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Cite this version of the work
Darren Chang
(2021).
Designing a System for Measuring and Optimizing the Photothermal Conversion Efficiencies of Two Dimensional Nanomaterials for Cancer Therapy. UWSpace.
http://hdl.handle.net/10012/17463
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