Heat Dissipation of Hybrid Iron Oxide-Gold Nanoparticles in an Agar Phantom

Hybrid iron oxide-gold nanoparticles (HNPs) have shown potential in cancer therapy as agents for tumour ablation<br/>and thermal switches for targeted drug release. Heat generation occurs by exploitation of the surface plasmon<br/>resonance of the gold coating, which usually occurs at the maximum UV absorption wavelength. However, lasers<br/>at such wavelength are often expensive and highly specialised. Here, we report the heating and monitoring of heat<br/>dissipation of HNPs suspended in agar phantoms using a relatively inexpensive Ng: YAG pulsed 1064 nm laser source.<br/>The particles experience heating of up to 40°C with a total area of heat dissipation up to 132.73 mm2 from the 1 mm<br/>diameter irradiation point after 60 seconds. This work reports the potential and possible drawbacks of these particles<br/>for translation into cancer therapy based on our findings.