Critical enhancement of photothermal effect by integrated nanocomposites of gold nanorods and iron oxide on graphene oxide

Abstract

Irradiation of gold nanorods (GNRs) with laser light corresponding to the longitudinal surface plasmon oscillation results in rapid conversion of electromagnetic energy into heat, a phenomenon commonly known as the photothermal effect of GNRs. Herein, we propose a facile strategy for increasing the photothermal conversion efficiency of GNRs by integration to form graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites. Moreover, conjugation of iron oxide (IO) with the GO-GNR nanohybrid allowed magnetic enrichment at a specific target site and the separated GO-IO-GNR assembly was rapidly heated by laser irradiation. The present GO-IO-GNR nanocomposites hold great promise for application in various biomedical fields, including surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy imaging, photoacoustic tomography imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, and photothermal cancer therapy.