Large-scale orientation dependent heating from a single irradiated gold nanorod.

Ma, Haiyan; Bendix, Poul M; Oddershede, Lene B · Nano Lett · 2012

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

We quantify the extreme heating associated with resonant irradiation of individual gold nanorods by using a novel assay based on partitioning of lipophilic dyes between membrane phases. The temperature increase is sensitively dependent on the angle between the laser polarization and the orientation of the nanorod. A dramatic and irreversible decrease in the heating of a nanorod occurs at high-illumination intensities; this effect is attributed to surface melting of the nanorod causing it to restructure into a more spherical shape and lose its extreme photothermal properties.