Ambient Aqueous Synthesis of Ultrasmall PEGylated Cu2−xSe Nanoparticles as a Multifunctional Theranostic Agent for Multimodal Imaging Guided Photothermal Therapy of Cancer

Ultrasmall PEGylated Cu_2-x Se nanoparticles with strong near-infrared absorption have been prepared by an ambient aqueous method. The resultant water-soluble and biocompatible nanoparticles are demonstrated to be a novel nanotheranostic agent for effective deep-tissue photoacoustic imaging, computed tomography imaging, single-photon emission computed tomography imaging, and photothermal therapy of cancer.