Abstract
We perform a finite element-based numerical analysis to calculate the photoacoustic (PA) signal generated by spherical gold–silver (Au–Ag) alloy nanoparticles (NPs). These spherical particles are size-controlled and monodispersed, with tunable plasmonic resonance wavelength via change of the alloy composition. This enables their use in PA imaging as a contrast agent. This theoretical framework self-consistently solves the electromagnetic, thermodynamic and transient acoustic pressure physics using a multiphysics coupling approach. We model our system as an optically heterogeneous medium irradiated by a nanosecond laser pulse in the tissue therapeutic optical window (NIR irradiation, with wavelength of 800 nm). We calculate the PA signal generated by the photothermal expansion of both the particle and its surrounding medium. The results show the impact of the gold molar fraction (GMF) of Au–Ag alloy NPs on the PA signal for different NP sizes. We show that significantly stronger PA signals are achieved usi...
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