Engineered nanoflowers, nanotrees, nanostars, nanodendrites, and nanoleaves for biomedical applications

Abstract The development of architectured nanomaterials has been booming in recent years in part due to their expanded applications in the biomedical field, such as biosensing, bioimaging, drug delivery, and cancer therapeutics. Nanomaterials exhibit a wide variety of shapes depending on both the intrinsic properties of the materials and the synthesis procedures. Typically, the large surface areas of nanomaterials improve the rate of mass transfer in biological reactions. They also have high self-ordering and assembly behaviors, which make them great candidates for various biomedical applications. Some nanomaterials have a high conversion rate in transforming the energy of photons into heat or fluorescence, thus showing promise in cancer treatment (such as hyperthermia) and bioimaging. The nanometric dimension makes them suitable for passing through the biological barriers or interacting with the natural molecules (such as DNA, protein). Nanoflowers, nanotrees, nanostars, and nanodendrites are examples of nano-sized structures, which exhibit unique geometry-dependent properties. Here we reviewed the fabrication methods, features, properties, and biomedical applications of four nano-structured materials including nanoflowers, nanotrees, nanostars, nanodendrites, and nanoleaves. We further provided our perspectives on employing these novel nanostructures as advanced functional materials for a broad spectrum of applications. Graphical abstract