Graphene oxide wrapped gold nanorods for enhanced photo-thermal stability

Abstract

A nanocomposite of gold nanorods coated with nanosized graphene oxide (GO–GNRs) was fabricated in an ammonium hydroxide solution and its photothermal stability was investigated upon exposure to near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation. The optical property and morphology of the GO–GNRs nanohybrids remained unchanged after 4 repeated NIR exposure cycles, which is considerably stable compared with the as-synthesized gold nanorods. In addition, the GO–GNRs nanohybrids showed a superb reproducibility of photothermal performance and an excellent colloidal stability. Such graphene oxide modified gold nanorods with enhanced photothermal stability are well suited for further biological applications such as sensing, bioimaging and photothermal therapy.