(259) Engineering the structural and optical properties of gold nanostars with microfluidics

Introduction: Gold nanostars (AuNS) are anisotropic nanoparticles with tunable optical properties in the near infrared (NIR) region, where light has deep tissue-penetrating capacity, enabling photothermal therapy and photoacoustic imaging.[1] Most conventional protocols involve multi-step processes and cytotoxic chemicals, which often limit applicability.[2] Synthesizing and reducing AuNS with HEPES buffer overcomes these issues, but yields polydisperse AuNS.[3,4] Here we use a microfluidic chip to better control the morphology and optical properties of AuNS, significantly improving their monodispersity.