Dispersed Silver Nanowires Enhance Radiofrequency Heating

Radiofrequency ablation has been intensively investigated for non-invasive cancer treatment. To enhance the specificity and efficacy of the traditional invasive radiofrequency ablation technique, we used silver nanowires as radiofrequency receptors to enhance local heating effect. The silver nanowires were prepared by a conventional polyol method, and then dispersed in the specially designed solvent formula of ISOPAR-H with assistant surfactants. Silver nanoparticles and non-dispersed silver nanowires were also prepared to serve as references. It was found that silver nanoparticles could hardly increase the radiofrequency heating, and that non-dispersed silver nanowires exhibited an interesting non-uniform enhancement of the radiofrequency heating. In comparison, significant enhancement of radiofrequency heating was observed when dispersed silver nanowires were radiated by a 13.56 MHz electromagnetic field. In addition, size dependent effects have also been investigated. An in vitro study using Hela cells was also conducted to find that radiofrequency illumination was lethal to silver nanowires incubated cancer cells. Such effects promise a bright future for applications of nanoparticle-mediated radiofrequency thermotherapy to cancer treatment.