| Abstract: | Gold nanoparticle is an important photothermal conversion material in photothermal imaging and photothermal therapy research. There are diverse gold nanoparticles, including gold nanospheres, gold nanorods, gold nanocages, gold nanoshells and gold nanostars. Among them, gold nanostar (AuNS) possesses more excellent prospective imaging contrast agent for cancer diagnosis than other shapes of gold nanoparticles because of its larger photon interception area and cross section as well asscattering characteristics. The properties of AuNS are susceptible to synthetic methods and conditions. In this study, we presented surfactant-free methods to synthesize AuNS, discussed the relationship of AuNS characterization with the synthetic conditions and tested its photothermal effect. The results indicated that length and number of branches in AuNSs were the main factor for absorption wavelength in photothermal conversion, and the AuNSs could be more precisely controlled by changing the synthesis conditions. |
