As vital components of photodynamic therapy, organic photosensitizers face challenges in clinical translation due to their compromised reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and limited tumor targeting when aggregated or formulated as nanoparticles. Here, the authors propose a steric hindrance–plane–hindrance molecular design strategy to guide the self-assembly of twisted donor–π–acceptor photosensitizers into rod-shaped nanoparticles, which concurrently enhance ROS generation and tumor accumulation.
- Qiaoyang Tang
- Binghui Xue
- Guangxue Feng
