Au NRs Research Articles

Heterostructures of MOFs and Nanorods for Multimodal Imaging

AbstractMultifunctional heterostructures fabricated by assembling individual components are identified as a potential theranostic tool in biological fields, representing a strategy of great significance. Herein, heterodimers of the zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF)‐8 and gold nanorods (Au NRs) are designed and synthesized for collaborative photothermal treatment and chemotherapy triggered by near‐infrared (NIR) light. Furthermore, Ag2S, Ag2Se, upconversion fluorescent nanoparticles, and doxorubicin hydrochloride loaded into the ZIF‐8 are released after intravenous injection. This release is attributed to the pH‐responsive system, which simultaneously enabled computed tomography, photoacoustic, and NIR fluorescence imaging for tumors. Under NIR irradiation using an 808 nm laser, the tumor can be completely eliminated in vivo through multimodal imaging‐guided chemophotothermal treatment. Overall, the present study makes several noteworthy contributions to the efficient diagnosis and treatment of cancer using the metal‐organic framework‐assisted heterodimer as a versatile nanoplatform.

Nanocomposite plasters for the treatment of superficial tumors by chemo-photothermal combination therapy.

IntroductionNovel nanomedical systems are being developed as multiple therapeutic modalities because the combinational therapies for cancer on a single platform can have larger chance to address tumor heterogeneity and drug resistance than any mono-therapeutic modality.MethodsIn this study, photothermal therapy (PTT) and chemotherapy (CT) were combined to treat squamous cell carcinoma by using a novel type of noninvasive plaster composed of carboxylated-reduced graphene oxide (rGO–COOH), gold nanorods (Au NRs), and doxorubicin (DOX). Firstly, DOX was loaded onto rGO–COOH to form DOX_rGO–COOH. Then, the obtained DOX_rGO–COOH and Au NRs were co-assembled to obtain nanocomposite multilayer. rGO–COOH and Au NRs were combined together to obtain high light-to-heat conversion efficiency. Using them as photothermal agents for PTT and using DOX in rGO–COOH as an anticancer drug for CT, their synergistic combination therapy could be applicable practically.ResultsAs a result, DOX_rGO–COOH/Au NRs showed higher photothermal effects than that showed by rGO–COOH or Au NRs alone. It also showed higher therapeutic effects than DOX_rGO–COOH (for CT) or Au nr (for PTT) alone. Moreover, the system can repeatedly produce heat and simultaneously stimulate the release of the encapsulated anticancer drug into the tumor upon being irradiated by near-infrared laser. In vivo experiments demonstrated that the squamous cell carcinoma-bearing mice treated with DOX_rGO–COOH/Au NRs were healthy for more than 60 days without tumor recurrence.ConclusionThe as-developed DOX_rGO–COOH/Au NRs plaster could be an effective, convenient, and noninvasive treatment option for treating superficial tumors.

Optimized field confinement and plasmon-induced SERS activity of Janus-like Au–AgAuS hybrid nanoboats

Janus-like Au–AgAuS hybrid nanoboats (NBs) with controllable half shells were prepared by using seed-mediated growth method. Their tunable plasmon properties were investigated by using UV-Vis spectra and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. With the shell thicknesses increasing, the red shifting of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peaks and an obvious enhancement of transverse SPR band have been observed for the Janus-like NBs. The effects of shell thicknesses and covered areas on local electric field of Janus-like Au–AgAuS NBs were further studied by FDTD simulation, which proposed an effective method to manipulate the electromagnetic field distributions of metal plasmonic nanostructures. In addition, served as solution-based active SERS substrates, the SERS performances of Au NRs and Janus-like Au–AgAuS NBs with different shell thicknesses have been further estimated by using rhodamine B as probe molecules. Compared with the others, Au–AgAuS NBs with about 2.82-nm shell displayed the best SERS performance with good reproducibility in our experiments, owing to the effective plasmonic enhancement and load capability.

Sensitive multicolor visual detection of telomerase activity based on catalytic hairpin assembly and etching of Au nanorods

Detection of telomerase activity is crucial for the telomerase-related early diagnosis of cancer and drug screening. Herein, a multicolor visual telomerase detection method with high sensitivity was developed based on the etching of hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide-stablized Au nanorods (Au NRs) by the oxidation state 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine sulfate (TMB2+). In order to meet the demand of bare-eye inspection, an enzyme-free signal amplification strategy of catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) was incorporated. After the introduction of telomerase, telomerase extension products specifically triggered cyclic CHA and led to the successive formation of G-quadruplex/hemin DNAzyme, which catalyzed the H2O2-mediated oxidation of TMB. The Au NRs were gradually etched as the concentration of catalysate TMB2+ increased, resulting in the decrease of aspect ratio of the Au NRs. Correspondingly, the longitudinal localized surface plasmon resonance peak of Au NRs was blue-shifted, with the concomitant generation of a series of color transition. Under optimal conditions, a highly sensitive detection toward telomerase was realized down to 15 HeLa cells. Compared to previous colorimetric method for telomerase determination, multiple colors corresponding to telomerase activity was the most attractive virtue of our approach. More strikingly, telomerase-induced cyclic CHA significantly enhanced the accumulation of G-quadruplex/hemin DNAzyme, thus the signal amplification was effectively realized. Our approach exhibited excellent sensitivity and convenient signal readout, which is expected to provide great potential application in cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Target-Triggered Catalytic Hairpin Assembly-Induced Core-Satellite Nanostructures for High-Sensitive "Off-to-On" SERS Detection of Intracellular MicroRNA.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technology is emerging as a powerful molecules detection method with distinct advantages of high stability, good specificity, and low background signal compared with current prevailing fluorescence technique. However, the relative low sensitivity of SERS limits its wide applications. Engineered metallic nanoparticle aggregates with strong electromagnetic hot spots are urgently needed for low abundant molecules SERS detection. Herein, a microRNA (miRNA)-triggered catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA)-induced core-satellite (CS) nanostructure with multiple hot spots and strong electromagnetic field in nanogaps is designed. The unique plasmonic CS nanostructure is constructed by plasmonic Au nanodumbbells (Au NDs) as core and Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) as satellites, and it possesses enhanced electromagnetic field compared to that of Au NPs-Au nanorods (Au NRs) CS and Au NPs only. The "off-to-on" SERS strategy leads to a wide linear miRNA detection range from 10-19 to 10-9 M with a limit of detection (LOD) down to 0.85 aM in vitro. Intracellular accurate and sensitive miRNAs SERS imaging detection in different cell lines with distinct different miRNA expression levels are also achieved. The proposed SERS platform contributes to engineering metallic nanoparticle aggregates with strong electromagnetic intensity and has potential application in quantitative and precise detection significant intracellular molecules.

Electrochemical study of UV erosion of Au nanorods by silver nanoclusters (NCs) allows the construction of a NC-sensitized photovoltaic cell

It was reported that gold nanorods (Au NRs), synthesized by the conventional seed-mediated method, show unusual photoresponse to UV illumination due to the presence of silver nanoclusters (Ag NCs) which etch away Au NRs to slowly shred them and make them shorter in length. Here we report the electrochemical experiments supporting this atypical behavior. These studies show that a redox reaction is taking place on the surface of Au NRs in the presence of excited Ag NCs. The excitation energy of Ag NCs can be released in the system as the flow of free charges and it can be utilized for a photosensitive electronic application. A NC-sensitized photovoltaic cell shows the possibility of conversion (with 0.17% efficiency) from UV radiation to electrical energy based on Ag NCs.

A nanoformulation for the preferential accumulation in adult neurogenic niches

Stimulation of adult neurogenesis by targeting the endogenous neural stem cells (NSCs), located in hippocampus and subventricular zone (SVZ), with nanoformulations has been proposed for brain repair in cases of neurodegenerative diseases. Unfortunately, it is relatively unknown the nanoformulation properties to facilitate their accumulation in the neurogenic niches after intravenous injection. Here, we have screened different gold-based formulations having variable morphology, surface chemistry and responsiveness to light for their capacity to cross the blood brain barrier (BBB) and accumulate preferentially in the neurogenic niches. Results obtained in a human in vitro BBB model showed that gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) and gold nanorods (Au NRs) conjugated with medium density of transferrin (Tf) peptides (i.e. between 169 and 230 peptides per NP) crossed more efficiently the BBB than the remaining formulations. This is due to a relatively lower avidity of these formulations to Tf receptor (TfR) and lower accumulation in the lysosomes, as compared to the other formulations. We further show that the near infrared light (NIR) irradiation of Au NRs, under a certain concentration and at specific cell culture time, lead to the opening of the BBB. Finally, we demonstrate that Au NRs conjugated with Tf administered intravenously in mice and activated by NIR had the highest accumulation in the neurogenic niches. Our results open the possibility of targeting more effectively the neurogenic niches by controlling the properties of the nanoformulations.

Gold nanorod-assisted near-infrared stimulation of bullfrog sciatic nerve.

Infrared neural stimulation (INS) is a new and developing approach for neural repair, with the advantages of being non-contact, spatially precise, and artifact-free. However, the disadvantage of infrared light is that it is difficult to stimulate deep tissue because of its weak penetrating power. Therefore, this paper introduces an improved method using near-infrared laser to stimulate bullfrog sciatic nerves because of its strong penetrating power. Meanwhile, gold nanorods (Au NRs) are injected into the nerve to increase the absorption of light. The mechanism is the instantaneous temperature rise caused by the absorption of infrared light by Au NRs. The compound muscle action potential (CMAP) associated with the irradiated sciatic nerve is recorded by a multi-channel physiological signal instrument. The peak to peak amplitude (Vpp) of CMAP for sciatic nerves injected with Au NRs increases significantly compared to the CMAP for control nerves without Au NRs. These results demonstrate INS by labeling nerves with nanoparticle exhibiting latent capacity to increase the efficiency, spatial resolution, and the neural responsivity, and especially, can increase the penetration depth and reduce the requisite radiant exposure level.

Self-destructible polysaccharide nanocomposites with unlockable Au nanorods for high-performance photothermal therapy

Multifunctional organic/inorganic nanocomposites are highly attractive for effective biomedical applications. In this work, versatile types of self-destructible polysaccharide (dextran or pullulan) nanocomposites (denoted Au@PSa) with adjustable amounts of unlockable Au nanorods (Au NRs) were fabricated as highly efficient photothermal cancer therapy systems. Taking advantage of the acidic endosomes and high concentration of glutathione (GSH) present in cancer cells, the responsive self-destruction of Au@PSa nanocomposites could unlock the abundant encapsulated Au NRs within cells. Notably, the pullulan-based nanocomposites (denoted Au@Pul) demonstrated liver cell-targeting properties, which could enhance the therapeutic effects while minimizing side effects. The strong absorption of the unlocked Au NRs in the near-infrared region was utilized to examine the photothermal performance. The Au@PSa nanocomposites with a moderate amount of Au NRs in the matrix exhibited very impressive photothermal effects in tumor therapy, where the encapsulated Au NRs were unlocked in the tumor region to realize the observed high performance. The proposed system could be further extended, as the polysaccharides were functionalized with amino groups. The current work provides a facile strategy to construct flexible therapeutic platforms with responsive self-destruction features.

Gold nanorods as SERS substrate for the ultratrace detection of cocaine in non-pretreated oral fluid samples

This work shows the capability of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to detect ultratraces of cocaine (COC) in oral fluid (OF). It proposes a new solid substrate made of gold nanorods (Au NRs) to perform sensitive analyses of this complex matrix without any sample pretreatment. The Au NRs were synthetized optimizing the synthesis conditions, and then characterized and tested as SERS substrate. The presented results demonstrated that the SERS methodology was able to detect COC in OF with a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 10 ng/mL. This value was five orders of magnitude smaller than the one obtained with Raman spectroscopy (RS) and in the order of the cut-off value (8 ng/mL) established for confirmatory test of COC in OF. Besides, a multivariate analysis (OPLS-DA) applied on the samples analysed by SERS evidenced that it was possible to discriminate among various COC concentrations. These are quite positive results because even the 1 ng/mL COC concentration sample could be identified as different from the OF sample. In addition, the absence of sample pretreatment and the ease of the proposed method, allowed performing rapid and non-destructive analyses, making the method suitable for in situ forensic analyses.

Monte Carlo simulation of secondary electron images for gold nanorods on the silicon substrate

Recently, gold nanorods (Au NRs) have attracted much attention because at a particular photoelectricity the gold nanorods present a characteristic which is different from other types of Au nanomaterials with various shapes. Accurate measurement of aspect ratios does provide very high value of optical property for Au NRs. Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is thought of as the most accurate tool to perform size measurement through extracting structure parameters from the simulated scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image which best matches the experimental one. In this article, a series of MC-simulated secondary electron (SE) images have been taken for Au NRs on a silicon substrate. However, it has already been observed that the two ends of Au NRs in the experimental SEM image is brighter than that of the middle part. It seriously affects the accuracy of size measurement for Au NRs. The purpose of this work is to understand the mechanism underlying this phenomenon through a series of systematical analysis. It was found that the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) which covers the Au NRs indeed can alter the contrast of Au NRs compared to that without CTAB covering. However, SEs emitting from CTAB are not the reason for the abnormal brightness at the two ends of NRs. This work reveals that the charging effect might be the leading cause for this phenomenon.

Surface Engineering of Gold Nanorods for Cytochrome c Bioconjugation: An Effective Strategy To Preserve the Protein Structure.

The surface of gold nanorods (Au NRs) has been appropriately engineered to achieve a suitable interface for bioconjugation with horse heart cytochrome c (HCc). HCc, an extensively studied and well-characterized protein, represents an ideal model for nanoparticle (NP)–protein conjugation studies because of its small size, high stability, and commercial availability. Here, the native state of the protein has been demonstrated for the first time, by means of Raman spectroscopy, to be retained upon conjugation with the anisotropic Au nanostructures, thus validating the proposed protocol as specifically suited to mostly preserve the plasmonic properties of the NRs and to retain the structure of the protein. The successful creation of such bioconjugates with the retention of the protein structure and function along with the preservation of the NP properties represents a challenging but essential task, as it provides the only way to access functional hybrid systems with potential applications in biotechnology, medicine, and catalysis. In this perspective, the organic capping surrounding the Au NRs plays a key role, as it represents the functional interface for the conjugation step. Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide-coated Au NRs, prepared by using a seed-mediated synthetic route, have been wrapped with polyacrylic acid (PAA) by means of electrostatic interactions following a layer-by-layer approach. The resulting water-dispersible negatively charged AuNRs@PAA NPs have then been electrostatically bound to the positively charged HCc. The bioconjugation procedure has been thoroughly monitored by the combined analysis of UV–vis absorption, resonance Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies, transmission electron microscopy microscopy, and ζ-potential, which verified the successful conjugation of the protein to the nanorods.

Sensitive and simple determination of zwitterionic morphine in human urine based on liquid-liquid micro-extraction coupled with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Morphine, a kind of illicit drugs, is also one of the main heroin metabolites. In consideration of a noninvasive way to monitor and identify drug abuse during forensic cases, the urine samples are usually detected. Here, colloidal gold nanorods (Au NRs) were introduced to act as active substrate, because of the strong optical extinction and spectral tunability of the longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Thus, well surface-enhanced Raman spectra of morphine even at low concentrations could be obtained by portable Raman spectrometer. For the complex matrix environment of urine, liquid-liquid micro-extraction (LLME), a simple and inexpensive pretreatment, was employed to avoid the interferences. And then, the coupled surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) can give full play to the advantages of high sensitivity and unique spectroscopic fingerprint. According to the zwitterionic structure and physicochemical parameters of morphine molecules, the pH value of urine sample was adjusted to about 9 by buffer solution (KOH/NaB4O7) and the mixture of chloroform and isopropyl alcohol (V/V=9:1) was chosen as extractant. Moreover, such pretreatment was proved to be appropriate for separation and concentration of morphine from urine. The developed LLME-SERS method could provide a detection limit less than 1 ppm in the human urine environment and the whole process of detection just needed take 5–6 min. What's more, the results of urine samples from heroin users exhibited application value of the proposed technique. The excellent performance makes it promising to become a rapid, reliable, and on-spot analyzer, especially for public safety and healthcare.

Target-Induced Horseradish Peroxidase Deactivation for Multicolor Colorimetric Assay of Hydrogen Sulfide in Rat Brain Microdialysis.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is important for normal neural functions, which involves protecting neurons from oxidative stress and neuronal transmission modulation in brain. The detection of H2S is significant for revealing its role in the diagnosis of various disease. In this study, a novel multicolor colorimetric assay based on the etching of gold nanorods (Au NRs) is proposed to evaluate H2S level with the naked eye. This measurement relies on the catalytic oxidation of 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) via horseradish peroxidase (HRP) to produce TMB2+, which could etch the Au NRs quickly and accompany with a distinct color change. The vivid colors can be easily distinguished with the naked eye without any sophisticated instruments. The presence of H2S can cause the deactivation of HRP, which affects the amount of TMB2+ produced and consequently affects the color changing of the system. Based on this mechanism, a simple but sensitive multicolor colorimetric assay is developed for H2S detection with a linear range of 0.05-50 μM. The proposed method is demonstrated for monitoring extracellular H2S in rat brain coupled with microdialysate.

Different doping positions of Au nanorods impact on organic solar cells performance

The doping positions of Au nanorods (Au NRs) impact on the organic solar cells (OSCs) performance was studied systematically. Although doping Au NRs into the hole transport layer (HTL) or the interface of the active layer/HTL could improve the performance of OSCs, the device with Au NRs at the interface shows more improvement with a short-circuit current density of 11.36 mA/cm2 and power conversion efficiency of 3.22%. The better performance is owing to the higher light absorption increased nearly 30% for the device with Au NRs at the interface than that of the devices with Au NRs in HTL.

Au-nanorod-anchored {0 0 1} facets of Bi4Ti3O12 nanosheets for enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalysis

Generally, plasmonic photocatalyst suffers from limited visible-light responsive and inefficient charge transfer through the noble metal/semiconductor interface, leading to unsatisfactory photocatalytic activity. To solve this problem, herein we design and prepare a high efficiency photocatalyst i.e. gold nanorods/bismuth titanate nanosheets (BTO-Au NRs), in which Au NRs selectively anchored on the active {001} facets of BTO. Upon a mild hydrothermal process, excessive organic ligands around Au NRs is removed, and as a result a clear interface forms between {001} facets of BTO NSs and Au NRs, which is beneficial to interfacial charge transfer between BTO NSs and Au NRs. The as-prepared BTO-Au NRs can harvest sunlight from visible to near-infrared light by tuning their length-to-diameter aspect ratios. The optimizing BTO-Au NRs (aspect ratios of Au NRs is 3.8) exhibits a high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of the pollutants such as α-naphthol (α-NP) and rhodamine B (RhB) under visible irradiation, with 5 and 22-fold photocatalytic efficiency with respect to BTO under the same condition, respectively. The remarkably boosted activity is demonstrated to be due to the synergetic effects of enlarged the optical adsorption range, exposed active {001} facets of BTO, as well as plasmon-induced hot electron from Au NRs transferred to the matched conduction band of {001} faceted BTO. This study offers insights into plasmonic hot electron-enabled and active facet-exposed photocatalysis, which will be valuable for the design of novel and high-efficiency plasmonic metal/semiconductor hybrid photocatalysts.

Study on abnormal SEM contrast image of gold nanorods through Monte Carlo method

Because the particular photo-electricity of gold nanorods (Au NRs) presents a different characteristic than other types of Au nano-materials with various shapes, it has attracted much attention recently. Accurate measurement for aspect ratios does provide very high value on the optical property of Au NRs. Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is thought as the most accurate tool to perform size measurement through extracting structure parameters from the simulated scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image which best matches the experimental one. However, it has already been observed that the contrast of two ends of Au NRs in the experimental SEM image is brighter than that of middle part, which cannot be obtained by the conventional MC simulation approach. This phenomenon seriously affects the accuracy of size measurement for Au NRs. Therefore, in this article, a MC study was exerted on the frequently observed abnormal contrast of Au NRs. It was found that the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) which covers around the Au NRs indeed can alter the contrast of Au NRs comparing on that without CTAB covering. However, secondary electrons (SEs) emitting from CTAB is not the contributor for the abnormal brightness at two ends of NRs. The analysis reveals that the CTAB which covers around the Au NRs isolates Au NRs from the substrate, leading to charges accumulated in the body of Au NRs. The surface potential of Au NRs which produced by deposited charges presents a positive value and the potential value of the middle region is higher than that of both ends. Therefore, the SEs emitted from the middle region will be more easily attracted back to the surface than that emitted from both ends. As a consequence, the image contrast in the middle region of Au NRs is lower than that at both ends.

Colloidal plasmonic gold nanoparticles and gold nanorings: shape-dependent generation of singlet oxygen and their performance in enhanced photodynamic cancer therapy.

IntroductionIn recognition of the potentials of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) in enhanced photodynamic therapy (PDT) for cancer, it is desirable to further understand the shape-dependent surface plasmonic resonance (SPR) properties of various gold nanostructures and evaluate their performances in PDT.Materials and methodsMonodispersed colloidal spherical solid Au NPs were synthesized by UV-assisted reduction using chloroauric acid and sodium citrate, and hollow gold nanorings (Au NRs) with similar outer diameter were synthesized based on sacrificial galvanic replacement method. The enhanced electromagnetic (EM) field distribution and their corresponding efficiency in enhancing singlet oxygen (1O2) generation of both gold nanostructures were investigated based on theoretical simulation and experimental measurements. Their shape-dependent SPR response and resulted cell destruction during cellular PDT in combination with 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) were further studied under different irradiation conditions.ResultsWith comparable cellular uptake, more elevated formation of 1O2 in 5-ALA-enabled PDT was detected with the presence of Au NRs than that with Au NPs under broadband light irradiation in both cell-free and intracellular conditions. As a result of the unique morphological attributes, exhibiting plasmonic effect of Au NRs was still achievable in the near infrared (NIR) region, which led to an enhanced therapeutic efficacy of PDT under NIR light irradiation.ConclusionShape-dependent SPR response of colloidal Au NPs and Au NRs and their respective effects in promoting PDT efficiency were demonstrated in present study. Our innovative colloidal Au NRs with interior region accessible to surrounding photosensitizers would serve as efficient enhancers of PDT potentially for deep tumor treatment.

Macroscopic‐Oriented Gold Nanorods in Polyvinyl Alcohol Films for Polarization‐Dependent Multicolor Displays

AbstractDue to their abundant optical colors, durable color generation, and high refreshing rate, smart chromic nanomaterials (SCNMs) have been employed in various applications. However, most SCNMs often require multicomponent materials, precise morphology control, and complicated modulation to realize multicolor changes, which limits their widely practical applications. In the present study, a simple and effective strategy is demonstrated to achieve the flexible and cost‐effective multicolor gold nanorods (Au NRs)/polymer hybrid film, by tuning macroscopic‐oriented Au NRs in films and a synergy of polarization‐dependent surface plasmon resonance. Au NRs are first functionalized with methoxypoly(ethylene glycol)thiol to improve the compatibility, ensuring Au NRs can be homogenously dispersed in the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix with high particle density. The macroscopic‐oriented alignment of Au NRs can be achieved by the elongation of the PVA polymer molecular chains. Under different polarized excitation directions, the same strip of the hybrid film exhibits various colors including red, orange, yellow, and green. Therefore, the strategy provides a simple and powerful approach to achieve macroscopic‐oriented anisotropic nanoparticles in the polymer matrix, and the resultant hybrid films are promising in various practical applications, such as color displays, optical devices, and plasmonic biosensors.

Short-Wave Infrared Sensor by the Photothermal Effect of Colloidal Gold Nanorods.

Photodetection in the short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectrum is a challenging task achieved often by costly low bandgap compound semiconductors involving highly toxic elements. In this work, an alternative low-cost approach is reported for SWIR sensors that rely on the plasmonic-induced photothermal effect of solution-processed colloidal gold nanorods (Au NRs). A series of uniform solution-processed Au NRs of various aspect ratios are prepared exhibiting a strong and well-defined longitudinal localized surface plasmon resonance (L-LSPR) maximum from 900 nm to 1.3 µm. A hybrid device structure is fabricated by applying Au NRs on the surface of a thermistor. Under a monochromatic illumination, hybrid Au-NR/thermistor devices exhibit a clear photoresponse in the form of photoinduced resistance drop in the wavelength window from 1.0 to 1.8 µm. The photoresponsivity of such hybrid devices reaches a maximum value of 4.44 × 107 Ω W-1 at λ = 1.4 µm (intensity = 0.28 mW cm-2 ), a wavelength in agreement with the L-LSPR of the Au NRs applied. Colloidal Au NRs, capable to perform fast conversion between photon absorption and thermal energy, thus open an interesting avenue for alternative low-cost SWIR photodetection.