Plasmonic Si@Au core-satellite nanoparticles prepared by laser-assisted synthesis for photothermal therapy

Abstract

We describe a laser-assisted methodology for the fabrication of Si@Au core-satellite nanostructures for photothermal therapy applications. The methodology consists in laser ablative synthesis of Si and Au NPs in water/ethanol solutions, followed by a chemical modification of the Si NPs by APTMS and their subsequent decoration by the Au NPs. We show that despite a relatively small size (< 40 nm) the formed core-satellites exhibit a strong plasmonic absorption peak centred around 610 nm and having a large tail over 700 nm overlapping with the first optical window of relative tissue transparency. Being relatively small and exempt of any toxic impurity due to ultraclean laser synthesis, the fabricated nanoparticles promise a major advancement of imaging and phototherapy modalities based on plasmonic properties of nanomatererials.