Enhanced thermal stability of gelatin coated gold nanorods in water solution

This paper reports on the thermally induced optical and morphological changes of bare and gelatin-coated gold nanorods (AuNRs) in the temperature range between 25 and 90 °C. Under controlled heating, the optical response of bare AuNRs displays considerable modifications, well corroborated with the reshaping of the particles. Additionally employed numerical simulations offered a better understanding of the mechanism responsible for the reshaping of AuNRs under thermal treatment. However, the entrapment of AuNRs in a gelatin shell increases their thermal stability conserving their optical properties over a much wider temperature range, thus making them suitable for biomedical applications.