In this work, silica nanoparticles (SiO2) were successively modified with polydopamine (PDA) and poly (N,N-diethylaaylamide) (PDEAA) by mussel inspiration chemistry and surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization, respectively. The resulting targeted product, SiO2-PDA-PDEAA, was characterized by means of TEM, FT-IR, TGA, and XPS methods. SiO2-PDA-PDEAA had strong near-infrared (NIR) photothermal effect, even if the period of switching NIR irradiation exceeded 4 times. The photothermal-responsive SiO2-PDA-PDEAA was used as particulate emulsifiers to stabilize Pickering emulsions. The larger degree of NIR irradiation time, the lower emulsifying performance. The hydrophobicity of SiO2-PDA-PDEAA was in response to the increasing DEAA feed concentration, which led to the phase inversion from O/W to W/O. Moreover, doxorubicin hydrochloride was used as the model anticancer drug to evaluate the NIR effect on drug release. This study paved a feasible path for PDA-based nanocomposite materials, opening up many potential applications in smart emulsifiers, catalysts, and biomedical diagnosis in the near future. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All tights reserved.