Electron-phonon effects on the photoacoustic response of gold core-silica shell nanoparticles : from the linear regime to nanocavitation

Coating gold nanostructures with a silica shell has been long considered for biomedical applications including photoacoustic imaging. Recent experimental and modeling investigations reported contradicting results concerning the effect of coating on the photoacoustic response of gold nanostructures. Enhanced photoacoustic response is generally attributed to facilitated heat transfer