NANOTORRID®: Graphene-like properties of a gold/polypropylene nanocomposite and its photothermal application

• Published in: Journal of materials research Vol. 37; no. 6; pp. 1183 - 1200
• Main Authors: Jha, Ashish, Ravichandran, Gayathri, De, Abhijit, Srivastava, Rohit
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 28.03.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applied and Technical Physics; Biomaterials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Gold; Graphene; Heat generation; Inorganic Chemistry; Materials Engineering; Materials research; Materials Science; Nanocomposites; Nanomaterials; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Optical properties; Polypropylene; Photothermal therapy; Bioluminescence imaging; Laser ablation; Polypropylene carbonate; Gold nanoparticles; Dielectric polymer
• ISSN: 0884-2914; 2044-5326
• DOI: 10.1557/s43578-022-00518-0

Nanoparticles (NP) with advanced optical or photothermal properties have been explored for potential cancer therapy applications. Gold (Au)-based nanomaterials exhibit superior photothermal properties among various Photothermal therapy (PTT) agents. NANOTORRID® material is superior in many ways, including it is composed of dielectric polymer polypropylene carbonate and gold, it has graphitic bands like G and D, its small size range of 20–30 nm, having tunable wavelength absorbance and need for a shorter duration of laser exposure or low material concentration to deliver desired therapeutic benefit. Here, we report a scalable single pot method to produce NANOTORRID® structures capable of intense heat generation within a short duration of 2 to 2.5 min of laser exposure due to multiple dielectric and gold interfaces. NANOTORRID® exhibits excellent photothermal properties as using 10 µg/mL concentration can reach effective temperature (43 °C) within only 2.5 min by absorbing a 430 mW 808 nm laser. Graphical abstract