Photoacoustic Enhancement of Ferricyanide-Treated Silver Chalcogenide-Coated Gold Nanorods.

ABSTRACT: Plasmonic gold nanorods (AuNRs) are often employed as photoacoustic (PA) contrast agents due to their ease of synthesis, functionalization, and biocompatibility. These materials can produce activatable signals in response to a change in optical absorbance intensity or absorbance wavelength. Here, we report a surprising finding: Ag₂S/Se-coated AuNRs have a ~40-fold PA enhancement upon addition of an oxidant but with no change in absorption spectra. We then study the mechanism underlying this enhancement. Electron micrographs and absorption spectra show good colloidal stability and retention of the core-shell structure after potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) (HCF) addition, ruling out aggregation and morphology-induced PA enhancement. X-ray diffraction data showed no changes, ruling

SUBMITTER: Mantri Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9563653 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature