Heat dissipation of hybrid iron oxide-gold nanoparticles in an agar phantom

Hybrid iron oxide-gold nanoparticles (HNPs) have shown potential in cancer therapy as agents for tumour ablation and thermal switches for targeted drug release. Heat generation occurs by exploitation of the surface plasmon resonance of the gold coating, which usually occurs at the maximum UV absorption wavelength. However, lasers at such wavelength are often expensive and highly specialised. Here, we report the heating and monitoring of heat dissipation of HNPs suspended in agar phantoms using a relatively inexpensive Ng: YAG pulsed 1064 nm laser source. The particles experience heating of up to 40°C with a total area of heat dissipation up to 132.73 mm2 from the 1 mm diameter irradiation point after 60 seconds. This work reports the potential and possible drawbacks of these particles
for translation into cancer therapy based on our findings.