%T Plasmonic Nanoparticles for Photothermal Therapy: Benchmarking of Photothermal Properties and Modeling of Heating at Depth in Human Tissues
%O Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This publication is licensed under 
CC-BY 4.0 .
%D 2025
%A William H Skinner
%A Marzieh Salimi
%A Laura Moran
%A Ioana Blein-Dezayes
%A Megha Mehta
%A Sara Mosca
%A Alexandra-Geanina Vaideanu
%A Benjamin Gardner
%A Francesca Palombo
%A Andreas G Schatzlein
%A Pavel Matousek
%A Tim Harries
%A Nick Stone
%X Many different types of nanoparticles have been developed for photothermal therapy (PTT), but directly comparing their efficacy as heaters and determining how they will perform when localized at depth in tissue remains complex. To choose the optimal nanoparticle for a desired hyperthermic therapy, it is vital to understand how efficiently different nanoparticles extinguish laser light and convert that energy to heat. In this paper, we apply photothermal mass conversion efficiency (ηm) as a metric to compare nanoparticles of different shapes, sizes, and conversion efficiencies. We selected silica-gold nanoshells (AuNShells), gold nanorods (AuNRs), and gold nanostars (AuNStars) as three archetypal nanoparticles for PTT and measured the ηm of each to demonstrate the importance of considering both photothermal efficiency and extinction cross section when comparing nanoparticles. By utilizing a Monte Carlo model, we further applied ηm to model how AuNRs performed when located at tissue depths of 0–30 mm by simulating the depth penetration of near-infrared (NIR) laser light. These results show how nanoparticle concentration, laser power, and tissue depth influence the ramp time to a hyperthermic temperature of 43 °C. The methodology outlined in this paper creates a framework to benchmark the heating efficacy of different nanoparticle types and a means of estimating the feasibility of nanoparticle-mediated PTT at depth in the NIR window. These are key considerations when predicting the potential clinical impact in the early stages of nanoparticle design.
%N 3
%J The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
%K Science & Technology, Physical Sciences, Technology, Chemistry, Physical, Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, Materials Science, Multidisciplinary, Chemistry, Science & Technology - Other Topics, Materials Science, ABLATION, NANORODS, SCATTERING, NANOCAGES, TUMORS, CELL
%L discovery10203934
%V 129
%P 1864-1872
%I AMER CHEMICAL SOC