Gold Nanostars for Cancer Photothermal Therapy

Among the numerous photothermal materials, gold (Au) nanoparticles with special geometric structures have attracted much attention in recent years. Gold nanoparticles have numerous geometry structures, such as gold nanoshells, nanocages, nanorods, nanocubes, and nanostars. These gold nanoparticles, being exposed to light with a suitable wavelength, exhibit a strong local surface plasmon resonance effect. The gold geometry structures determine the LSPR peaks. Gold nanostars (GNSs) are an important class of gold nanoparticles, which have unique physical properties such as high optical absorbance with low scattering effect and high photothermal conversion efficiency in the near-infrared regions. These physical properties are mainly dependent on the core size and star branch length, sharpness, and number. In this chapter, the optical properties of gold nanoparticles, especially GNSs, photothermal conversion efficiency and photothermal stability of GNSs, and GNSs-mediated cancer PTT were summarized. The toxicity of GNSs was also discussed.