Janus nanoparticles for cellular delivery chemotherapy: Recent advances and challenges

Anisotropic Janus nanoparticles have been widely investigated in recent years on both the nanoparticles preparation strategies and the advanced applications. Janus nanoparticles possess biphasic geometry of distinct compositions or asymmetric morphologies that bring distinct novel properties. Janus nanoparticles have been widely used in various applications such as catalysts, nanomotors, and nanomedicine. In biomedical fields, the special spatially separated surface chemistry of Janus nanoparticles provides efficient targeting and delivery capability, which can be used to design next generation delivery vectors. Moreover, the unique asymmetric morphology of Janus nano-particles exhibits unusual behaviours when internalized by cells. Janus nanoparticles can be developed as new probes to investigate the nanoparticle-cell interaction during the critical cellular delivery processes. This review focuses on recent progress of the design and synthesis of novel Janus nanoparticles and their unusual performance in cellular delivery related applications. The advantages and new opportunities of Janus nanoparticles as cellular delivery vectors are discussed.