Abstract
The photothermal effect of nanoparticles has proven efficient for driving diverse physical and chemical processes; however, we know of no study addressing the dependence of efficacy on nanoparticle size. Herein, we report on the photothermal effect of three different sizes (5.5 nm, 10 nm and 15 nm in diameter) of magnetite nanoparticles (MNP) driving the decomposition of poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC). We find that the chemical effectiveness of the photothermal effect is positively correlated with particle volume. Numerical simulations of the photothermal heating of PPC supports this observation, showing that larger particles are able to heat larger volumes of PPC for longer periods of time. The increased heating duration is likely due to increased heat capacity, which is why the volume of the particle functions as a ready guide for the photothermal efficacy.
Highlights
The photothermal effect of nanoparticles, whereby light is absorbed and converted to thermal energy, has emerged as an attractive option for driving thermally-activated physical and chemical transformations at greatly enhanced rates [1,2,3]
The localized heat remains effective at driving chemical transformations, and to date, the photothermal effect of nanoparticles has proven to be extremely effective in various applications [7], including the ablation of cancerous cells without damage to the surrounding tissue [8,9,10], in vivo drug delivery [11], selective defect healing in polymers [12,13], decomposition of molecules, [3,14,15], regeneration of CO2 [16], killing of bacteria [17] and cross-linking of polymer networks [1]
We have shown that the rate of photothermal decomposition of poly(propylene carbonate) is dependent on the size of the magnetite nanoparticle photothermal agents
Summary
The photothermal effect of nanoparticles, whereby light is absorbed and converted to thermal energy, has emerged as an attractive option for driving thermally-activated physical and chemical transformations at greatly enhanced rates [1,2,3]. The localized heat remains effective at driving chemical transformations, and to date, the photothermal effect of nanoparticles has proven to be extremely effective in various applications [7], including the ablation of cancerous cells without damage to the surrounding tissue [8,9,10], in vivo drug delivery [11], selective defect healing in polymers [12,13], decomposition of molecules, [3,14,15], regeneration of CO2 [16], killing of bacteria [17] and cross-linking of polymer networks [1].
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