Due to the unique structure and prominent physicochemical properties, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been developed as promising nanocarriers to deliver drugs for cancer treatment. For improving the efficacy of drug nanocarrier and SERS traceability, the large-inner-diameter carbon nanotubes (LID-CNTs) with the hollow structure were employed to construct a novel drug delivery system. In brief, LID-CNTs are first to shorten through acid oxidation and sonication. Then, the gold/silver core-shell nanoparticles (Au@Ag NPs) were adsorbed onto the surfaces of LID-CNTs via electrostatic interactions, in which Au@Ag NPs were used as SERS-active structure. In such a nanohybrid, the model drug indole was loaded inside the hollow tunnels of LID-CNTs. Meanwhile, another drug, doxorubicin was loaded on the outer surface of LID-CNTs. Furthermore, indole and DOX can be triggered released by near-infrared (NIR) irradiation and acid pH conditions, respectively. Our experiment results demonstrate that this traceable LID-CNTs nanohybrids as dual-drug delivery systems exhibit significantly higher cell-killing effects, which have substantial potential for improving the therapeutic efficiency of cancer chemotherapy.
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