Solar steam generation has been achieved by surface plasmon heating with metallic nanoshells or nanoparticles, which have inherently narrow absorption bandwidth. For efficient light-to-heat conversion from a wider solar spectrum, we employ adiabatic plasmonic nanofocusing to attain both polarization-independent ultrabroadband light absorption and high plasmon dissipation loss. Here we demonstrate large area, flexible thin-film black gold membranes, which have multiscale structures of varying metallic nanoscale gaps (0–200 nm) as well as microscale funnel structures. The adiabatic nanofocusing of self-aggregated metallic nanowire bundle arrays produces average absorption of 91% at 400–2,500 nm and the microscale funnel structures lead to average reflection of 7% at 2.5–17 μm. This membrane allows heat localization within the few micrometre-thick layer and continuous water provision through micropores. We efficiently generate water vapour with solar thermal conversion efficiency up to 57% at 20 kW m−2. This new structure has a variety of applications in solar energy harvesting, thermoplasmonics and related technologies.

Rare-earth activated upconversion materials are receiving renewed attention for their potential applications in bioimaging and solar energy conversion. To enhance the upconversion efficiency, surface plasmon has been employed but the reported enhancements vary widely and the exact enhancement mechanisms are not clearly understood. In this study, we synthesized upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) coated with amphiphilic polymer which makes UCNPs water soluble and negatively charged. We then designed and fabricated a silver nanograting on which three monolayers of UCNPs were deposited by polyelectrolyte-mediated layer-by-layer deposition technique. The final structures exhibited surface plasmon resonance at the absorption wavelength of UCNP. The green and red photoluminescence intensity of UCNPs on nanograting was up to 16 and 39 times higher than the reference sample deposited on flat silver film, respectively. A thorough analysis of rate equations showed that the enhancement was due entirely to absorption enhancement in the strong excitation regime, while the enhancement of both absorption and Förster energy transfer contribute in the weak excitation regime. The Purcell factor was found to be small and unimportant because the fast nonradiative decay dominates the relaxation process. From the experimentally observed enhancements, we concluded 3.1× and 1.7× enhancements for absorption and Förster energy transfer, respectively. This study clearly shows the plasmon enhancement mechanism and its excitation power dependence. It provides the basis for comparison of the enhancements of various plasmonic UCNP systems in the literature. It also lays the foundation for rational design of optical plasmonic structures for upconversion enhancement.

Energy transfer upconversion (ETU) is known to be the most efficient frequency upconversion mechanism. Surface plasmon can further enhance the upconversion process, opening doors to many applications. However, ETU is a complex process involving competing transitions between multiple energy levels and it has been difficult to precisely determine the enhancement mechanisms. In this paper, we report a systematic study on the dynamics of the ETU process in NaYF4:Yb3+,Er3+ nanoparticles deposited on plasmonic nanograting structure. From the transient near-infrared photoluminescence under various excitation power densities, we observed faster energy transfer rates under stronger excitation conditions until it reached saturation where the highest internal upconversion efficiency was achieved. The experimental data were analyzed using the complete set of rate equations. The internal upconversion efficiency was found to be 56% and 36%, respectively, with and without the plasmonic nanograting. We also analyzed the transient green emission and found that it is determined by the infrared transition rate. To our knowledge, this is the first report of experimentally measured internal upconversion efficiency in plasmon enhanced upconversion material. Our work decouples the internal upconversion efficiency from the overall upconverted luminescence efficiency, allowing more targeted engineering for efficiency improvement.

This paper reports successful synthesis of multifunctional nanoclusters of upconversion nanoparticle (UCNP) and gold nanorod (AuNR) through a PEGylation process. UCNPs emit visible luminescence under near-infrared excitation, producing high-contrast images with no background fluorescence. When coupled with AuNRs, the resulting UCNP-AuNR multifunctional nanoclusters is capable of simultaneous detection and treatment of bladder cancer. These UCNP-AuNR nanoclusters are further functionalized with antibodies to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) to target bladder cancer cells known to overexpress EGFRs. This paper demonstrates, for the first time, efficient targeting of bladder cancer cells with UCNP-AuNR nanoclusters. In addition to high-contrast imaging and consequently high sensitivity detection of bladder cancer cells, highly selective optoporation-assisted chemotherapy was accomplished using a dosage of chemotherapy agent significantly lower than any previous reports, within a clinically relevant incubation window. These results are highly relevant to the eventual human application in which the nanoclusters and chemotherapy drugs will be directly instilled in bladder via urinary catheter.

Background:Gold nanoparticles treated with near infrared (NIR) light can be heated preferentially, allowing for thermal ablation of targeted cells. The use of novel intravesical nanoparticle-directed therapy in conjunction with laser irradiation via a fiber optic cystoscope, represents a potential ablative treatment approach in patients with superficial bladder cancer.Objective:To examine the thermal ablative effect of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-directed gold nanorods irradiated with NIR light in an orthotopic urinary bladder cancer model.Methods:Gold nanorods linked to an anti-EGFR antibody (Conjugated gold NanoRods – CNR) were instilled into the bladder cavity of an orthotopic murine xenograft model with T24 bladder cancer cells expressing luciferase. NIR light was externally administered via an 808 nm diode laser. This treatment was repeated weekly for 4 weeks. The anti-cancer effect was monitored by an in vivo imaging system in a non-invasive manner, which was the primary outcome of our study.Results:The optimal approach for an individual treatment was 2.1 W/cm2 laser power for 30 seconds. Using this in vivo model, NIR light combined with CNR demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in tumor-associated bioluminescent activity (n = 16) compared to mice treated with laser alone (n = 14) at the end of the study (p = 0.035). Furthermore, the CNR+NIR light treatment significantly abrogated bioluminescence signals over a 6-week observation period, compared to pre-treatment levels (p = 0.045).Conclusions:Photothermal tumor ablation with EGFR-directed gold nanorods and NIR light proved effective and well tolerated in a murine in vivo model of urinary bladder cancer.