LEDs and tin nanoflakes combine to neutralize cancer cells

13 Oct 2025

University of Texas at Austin technique avoids high material costs and need for specialized facilities.

A project led by the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) has developed a new optical approach to treatment of cancer and the killing of malignant cells.

Described in ACS Nano the method combines LED light and nanoscale tin flakes to neutralize cancer cells while shielding healthy cells.

"Our goal was to create a treatment that is not only effective but also safe and accessible," said Jean Anne Incorvia from UT Austin's Chandra Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

"With the combination of LED light and SnOx nanoflakes, we've developed a method to precisely target cancer cells while leaving healthy cells untouched."

The ability of nanoscale particles to convert IR laser light into thermal energy delivered to particular cells and tissues for cancer therapy has been a topic of interest to clinicians for some time, with gold nanoparticles being particularly useful as a means of selectively destroying cancer cells.

More recent examples include a project at MIT in which particles enabling both phototherapy and chemotherapy could be implanted at a tumor site and then activated by laser light.

The UT Austin approach used LEDs rather than lasers, and tin-based two-dimensional nanoflakes of tin oxides with thicknesses below 20 nanometers and lateral sizes below 400 nanometers. At this size, the flakes "display a significantly enhanced NIR photothermal performance under 810 nanometer LED irradiation," said the project in its paper.

Moving treatment from the hospital to the patient's home

During in vitro trials, SnOx combined with NIR light was found to reduce viability in colorectal and skin carcinoma cells by 50 percent and 92 percent respectively, with no cytotoxicity toward human skin fibroblasts.

Importantly, the SnOx nanoflakes retain both their photothermal efficiency and structural integrity after four cycles of NIR irradiation, demonstrating stability for repeated therapeutic applications, noted the project's paper.

Having proved the effectiveness of the technology, the researchers have two main goals going forward. They plan to learn more about the light and heat reaction and explore other possible catalyst materials; and they will develop devices to bring the technology to clinicians and patients, exploiting the simplicity and low cost of LED sources.

"Our ultimate goal is to make this technology available to patients everywhere, especially places where access to specialized equipment is limited, with fewer side effects and lower cost,” said Artur Pinto from project partners the University of Porto.

"For skin cancers in particular, we envision that one day, treatment could move from the hospital to the patient's home. A portable device could be placed on the skin after surgery to irradiate and destroy any remaining cancer cells, reducing the risk of recurrence."