Gold Nanoshells

Gold colloid (left) and gold nanoshells of various thicknesses.

Calculated gold nanoshell plasmon resonances for a 120nm core with indicated shell thickness.

• Biological systems are highly transparent to near-infrared light.
• Nanoshells combined with targeting proteins could allow selective cancer cell destruction by local heating without harming untargeted cells.

L. R. Hirsch, R. J.Stafford, J. A. Bankson, S. R. Sershen, B. Rivera, R. E. Price, J. D. Hazle, N. J. Halas, & J. L. West, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 100, 13549-13554 (2003).