Synthesis of gold–silica core–shell nanoparticles by pulsed laser ablation in liquid and their physico-chemical properties towards photothermal cancer therapy

Due to the increasing scientific and biomedical interest in various nanoparticles (NPs) with excellent properties and the onset of their commercial use, a convenient and adjustable physical method for improved efficiency needs to be used for enabling their tech-scale production. Recently, great progress has been made in the large-scale production of NPs with a simple structure by pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL). In this work, we synthesized gold–silica core–shell NPs by improved PLAL and provided a guide on how to investigate their physico-chemical properties and association with biological effects towards cancer photothermal therapy (PTT). By means of this method, reproducible and scalable liquid phase NPs with less toxicity and good stability can be realized for tech-scale production based on its further adjustment and modification. Moreover, a more complete investigation of the associations between the physico-chemical properties of functional NPs with complex structure and their biological effects may enable more targeted NPs towards specific requirements of biomedical applications.