Table 4.

Summary of recent advances in photothermal agents

Recent advances	References
Incorporating gold nanoparticles into polymer-based microcarriers enables improved stability, controlled release, and enhanced tumor accumulation	[65]
Selenium nanoparticles have shown potential as ROS generators and sensitizers for photothermal therapy	[113, 123–125]
AuNPs and SeNPs in PTT can induce the immune system, where antibody therapy can be paired with the body's natural anticancer defenses by also administering immune boosters, such as the immune checkpoint inhibitor PD-1	[5]
Integrating more than one photothermal agent will boost the photosensitive molecules' photothermal conversion. (For instance, gold nanorods, nanoplates, and gold-silver alloy), semiconductor NPs (for instance, CuS, CuSe, and MoS2), and carbon nanomaterials (for instance, graphene, carbon dots)	[5, 118]
AuNPs can enhance the permeability of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in tumor tissues, facilitated by SeNPs, which, in high dosages, could eradicate tumor cells	[5, 113, 123–125, 125]
Computational and use of machine learning in replication and simulation of the thermal reaction of AuNRs with SeNPs, microcarrier and delivery design, and overall process monitoring	[5]