White TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely used for cancer photodynamic therapy based on their ultraviolet light-triggered properties. To date, biomedical applications using white TiO2 NPs have been limited, since ultraviolet light is a well-known mutagen and shallow penetration. This work is the first report about hydrogenated black TiO2 (H-TiO2 ) NPs with near infrared absorption explored as photothermal agent for cancer photothermal therapy to circumvent the obstacle of ultraviolet light excitation. Here, it is shown that photothermal effect of H-TiO2 NPs can be attributed to their dramatically enhanced nonradiative recombination. After polyethylene glycol (PEG) coating, H-TiO2 -PEG NPs exhibit high photothermal conversion efficiency of 40.8%, and stable size distribution in serum solution. The toxicity and cancer therapy effect of H-TiO2 -PEG NPs are relative systemically evaluated in vitro and in vivo. The findings herein demonstrate that infrared-irradiated H-TiO2 -PEG NPs exhibit low toxicity, high efficiency as a photothermal agent for cancer therapy, and are promising for further biomedical applications.

Slightly hydrogenated white TiO2 nanoparticles show enhanced photocatalytic performance due to their increased surface defects, while gray or black H-TiO2 nanoparticles display much worse catalytic performances due to the formation of bulk defects.

Nanoporous gold nanoparticles are fabricated by combining a thermal dewetting process of Au/Ag bilayer films and a dealloying process. As the gold concentration is small enough within the dewetted nanoparticles, a complete chemical removal of Ag can be achieved and there is a size shrinking during the dealloying process. The nanoporous gold nanoparticles possess a much higher surface-to-volume ratio than bulk nanoporous gold films or gold nanoparticles. The nanoporous nanoparticles have a potential usage in chemical, photonic, and catalytic applications.

SummaryThe fabrication of precise 2D Au nanoparticle arrays over a large area is presented. The technique was based on pre-patterning of the substrate before the deposition of a thin Au film, and the creation of periodic particle arrays by subsequent dewetting induced by annealing. Two types of pre-patterned substrates were used: The first comprised an array of pyramidal pits and the second an array of circular holes. For the dewetting of Au films on the pyramidal pit substrate, the structural curvature-driven diffusion cooperates with capillarity-driven diffusion, resulting in the formation of precise 2D particle arrays for films within a structure dependent thickness-window. For the dewetting of Au films on the circular hole substrate, the periodic discontinuities in the films, induced by the deposition, can limit the diffusion paths and lead to the formation of one particle per individual separated region (holes or mesas between holes), and thus, result in the evolution of precise 2D particle arrays. The influence of the pre-patterned structures and the film thickness is analyzed and discussed. For both types of pre-patterned substrate, the Au film thickness had to be adjusted in a certain thickness-window in order to achieve the precise 2D particle arrays.

The search for novel plasmonic nanostructures, which can act simultaneously as optical detectors and stimulators, is crucial for many applications in the fields of biosensing, electro- and photocatalysis, electrochemistry, and biofuel generation. In most of these areas, a large surface-to-volume ratio, as well as high density of active surface sites, is desirable. We investigate sponge-like, that is, fully porous, nanoparticles, called nanosponges, where both the gold and the air phase are fully percolated in three dimensions. We correlate, on a single nanoparticle basis, their optical scattering spectra (using dark field microscopy) with their individual morphology (using electron microscopy). We find that the scattering spectra of nanosponges depend only weakly on their size and outer shape, but are greatly influenced by their unique percolation, in qualitative agreement with numerical simulations.