Photothermal Response of Hollow Gold Nanorods under Femtosecond Laser Irradiation

Abstract

The photothermal kinetics of hollow gold nanorod (HGNR) under femtosecond laser irradiation are studied numerically with finite-element methods and a two-temperature model. Compared with solid gold nanorod (SGNR) with the same aspect ratio (AR), the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peak of HGNR can be red-shifted to the second near-infrared window, and the absorption cross-section of HGNR can be larger than that of SGNR. In addition, under the influence of an applied numerically electromagnetic field (simulated femtosecond laser irradiation), the heat generated by HGNR makes the temperature rise of the surrounding medium faster and higher. Compared with SGNR with the same resonance wavelength, HGNR has a slightly smaller absorption cross-section but can achieve a higher temperature rise of the external medium. In addition, the laser energy, required to achieve the critical temperature for selective photothermal damage of tumor cells, is also significantly reduced. Moreover, with the same incident laser energy, the decreasing of HGNR shell thickness leads to an increase of the temperature rise of the external medium, while the change of femtosecond laser pulse width will not significantly change the temperature rise of its lattice and the external medium. In short, this study aims to provide some useful insights for the applications of HGNR in photothermal tumor therapy.