Photothermal properties of wool fabrics colored with SiO2@AuNPs

Abstract

Recently, plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) have been used as microscopic heating agents with the aim of enhancing photothermal therapy, heat generation, and sterilization via photothermal heating at the metal/dielectric interface. To enhance the photothermal performance of NPs loaded onto a solid matrix, both the particle size of NPs and interparticle distance between neighboring NPs is important factors, because heat generation from NPs involves the superposition of the heat effect of light absorption and photon-to-energy conversion. Herein, three different types of gold nanoparticles loaded on SiO2 particles were prepared as photothermal agents for the heat generation of wool fabrics. The photothermal performance and stability of wool fabrics containing gold-seeded, gold-dotted, and gold-bridged silica particles (SiO2@AuS, SiO2@AuD, and SiO2@AuB, respectively) were evaluated under near-infrared irradiation (2 W/cm2). The results showed that SiO2@AuD loaded onto wool fabrics exhibited the largest temperature elevation, because both small seeds (AuS) and large dots (AuD) loaded onto the SiO2 particles contributed to temperature elevation via light absorption and the coupling effect between AuS/AuS and AuS/AuD. The fast heating rate and high photothermal conversion efficiency of as-made wool fabrics colored with SiO2@AuD are suitable for the heating of textiles.