Sonocatalytic biomaterials

Abstract

Ultrasound (US)-triggered catalysts can initiate various redox catalytic reactions in complex living conditions, presenting significant application prospects for versatile disease treatments, which is described as a collective term “sonocatalytic therapy” (SCT). Typically, a series of organic or inorganic sonosensitizers originating from sonocatalytic biomaterials are stimulated by US to generate abundant reactive radicals, including superoxide ions (·O₂⁻), hydroxyl radicals (·OH), and singlet oxygen (¹O₂), which hold promise for tissue repair, sterilization, and tumor therapy. To promote the clinical transformation of sonocatalytic biomaterials in SCT, this review comprehensively summarizes and outlines the underlying sonocatalytic mechanism, synthesis, modification, and functionalization of sonocatalytic biomaterials, and focuses on their versatible biomedical applications in antitumor therapy, tissue regeneration, and antibacterial treatment. Especially, the facing challenges and future outlook of sonocatalytic biomaterials in sonocatalytic medicine are discussed. With the insight into the sonocatalytic mechanism and the development of methodological and technologies, further clinical transformation of sonocatalytic biomaterials-enabled/augmented SCT is expected to ultimately benefit the human health.