Session Overview |
Wednesday, July 20 |
10:00 |
Putting Gold Nanocages to Work for Biomedical and Energy Applications
* Younan Xia, Brock Family Chair and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology, United States Gold nanocages (AuNCs) are a class of hollow nanocrystals with ultrathin and porous walls made of Au or Au-based alloys. When interacting with light, AuNCs exhibit a large absorption cross section and a high efficiency for light-to-heat conversion, making them effective photothermal transducers. Significantly, their absorption peak can be easily and precisely tuned through the visible and near-infrared regions to optimize their interaction with light of different wavelengths. In this talk, I will discuss recent progress in controlling the synthesis of AuNCs, together with their use in applications involving photothermal conversion. I will focus on the strategies developed for tuning their size, shape, composition, as well as the thickness and porosity of the walls. I will then discuss the photothermal properties of AuNCs in terms of both theoretical calculation and experimental measurement, followed by a number of examples to highlight their applications in the context of light detection, water evaporation, phase transition, controlled release, and photothermal therapy. At the end, I will offer some perspectives on the challenges and opportunities with respect to both the synthesis and application of AuNCs. |