“…With the development of nanotechnology, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have emerged as an important family of nanomaterials due to their unique localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). − Among others, gold nanorods (AuNRs) with anisotropic shape exhibit tunable LSPR bands that are dependent on the aspect ratio of rods, which makes them attractive for applications in microelectronic, catalysis, bioimaging, tumor therapy, and others. − The implementation of AuNRs in these applications often necessitates the modification of the surface of NPs to enhance their compatibility, colloidal stability, or functionality. − In particular, functionalization of AuNRs with ligands on specific surface regions (i.e., chemical patches) further promotes the anisotropy in the plasmonic-enhanced physical properties (e.g., photothermal conversion, plasmon coupling, and fluorescence enhancement). − Moreover, chemical patches regioselectively decorated on NRs can enable the molecular-mimicking self-assembly of block copolymers into hierarchically complex functional structures. , …”