SURFACE PLASMON PROPERTIES OF HOLLOW AUAG ALLOYED TRIANGULAR NANOBOXES AND ITS APPLICATIONS IN SERS IMAGING AND POTENTIAL DRUG DELIVERY

We successfully synthesized hollow AuAg alloyed triangular nanoboxes (TNBs) with localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) spectra position from visible to NIR region. We then study the surface plasmon properties of AuAg alloyed TNBs and explore their application in surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) imaging. We also investigated the laser induced near-field ablation of TNBs, which have the potentials of drug delivery for cancer treatment. Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method is used to calculate electromagnetic fields induced by optical excitation of LSPR of AuAg alloyed TNBs for the first time. The calculated results are proved through in-vivo SERS imaging by three types of SERS tags based on TNBs. Furthermore, the unique hollow structure of TNBs may facilitate direct encapsulation of anticancer drugs, without any surface coatings. The femtosecond laser near-field ablation experiment is studied as one possible method to release the drug encapsulated inside the hollow structure. These studies show that the nanostructures are easy to break down and promising as a nanodevice model for controlled drug delivery. Received 19 April 2012, Accepted 15 May 2012, Scheduled 15 May 2012 * Corresponding author: Sailing He (sailing@kth.se).