Recent Advances in Medicinal Plant-Based Fluorescent Nanomaterials for Antibacterial and Anticancer Photodynamic Therapy

In recent years, plant-based fluorescent nanomaterials have garnered significant attention for biomedical applications. In particular, those derived from medicinal plants have shown considerable promise as photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy (PDT). Medicinal plant-based fluorescent nanomaterials offer excellent water solubility, high biocompatibility, tunable optical properties, efficient reactive oxygen species generation, eco-friendly synthesis, high biosafety, and particularly potent chemotherapeutic effects derived from bioactive compounds of medicinal plants. Despite the growing interest in this research field, reviews on this topic remain scarce. This short review highlights recent advances in the development of medicinal plant-derived fluorescent nanomaterials for PDT in antibacterial and anticancer applications. We believe that this work will encourage more researchers to develop innovative fluorescent nanomaterials derived from medicinal plants for antibacterial and anticancer PDT.