Carbon-Coated Gold Nanorods: A Facile Route to Biocompatible Materials for Photothermal Applications

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• 作者：Yusuf Valentino Kaneti ; Chuyang Chen ; Minsu Liu ; Xiaochun Wang ; Jia Lin Yang ; Robert Allen Taylor ; Xuchuan Jiang ; Aibing Yu
• 刊名：ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
• 出版年：2015
• 出版时间：November 25, 2015
• 年：2015
• 卷：7
• 期：46
• 页码：25658-25668
• 全文大小：650K
• ISSN：1944-8252

文摘

Gold nanorods and their core鈥搒hell nanocomposites have been widely studied because of their well-defined anisotropy and unique optical properties and applications. This study demonstrates a facile hydrothermal synthesis strategy for generating carbon coating on gold nanorods (AuNRs@C) under mild conditions (<200 掳C), where the carbon shell is composed of polymerized sugar molecules (glucose). The structure and composition of the produced core鈥搒hell nanocomposites were characterized using advanced microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. The functional properties, particularly the photothermal and biocompatibility properties of the produced AuNRs@C, were quantified to assess their potential in photothermal hyperthermia. These AuNRs@C were tested in vitro (under representative treatment conditions) using near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation. It was found that the AuNRs produced here exhibit exemplary heat generation capability. Temperature changes of 10.5, 9, and 8 掳C for AuNRs@C were observed with carbon shell thicknesses of 10, 17, and 25 nm, respectively, at a concentration of 50 渭M, after 600 s of irradiation with a laser power of 0.17 W/cm². In addition, the synthesized AuNRs@C also exhibit good biocompatibility toward two soft tissue sarcoma cell lines (HT1080, a fibrosarcoma; and GCT, a fibrous histiocytoma). The cell viability study shows that AuNRs@C (at a concentration of <0.1 mg/mL) core鈥搒hell particles induce significantly lower cytotoxicity on both HT1080 and GCT cell lines, as compared with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)-capped AuNRs. Furthermore, similar to PEG-modified AuNRs, they are also safe to both HT1080 and GCT cell lines. This biocompatibility results from a surface full of 鈭扥H or 鈭扖OH groups, which are suitable for linking and are nontoxic Therefore, the AuNRs@C represent a viable alternative to PEG-coated AuNRs for facile synthesis and improved photothermal conversion. Overall, these findings open up a new class of carbon-coated nanostructures that are biocompatible and could potentially be employed in a wide range of biomedical applications.