Synthesis, characterization, and toxicity of hollow gold nanoshells

Hollow gold nanoshells (HGN) with a diameter of 50–70 nm and tunable optical properties within the near-infrared region were synthesized from a substitution reaction using a sacrificial template, in which the morphological properties of the HGN were affected by the synthesis conditions. Using EDX line scan, the composition of the structure was determined to verify if the sacrificial template is completely consumed or residues remain after the chemical synthesis, obtaining that the final HGN structure contains about 11% of the remaining silver that showed no significant effect on the cell viability of a hNS1 cell line, but resulted as toxic on a C6 glioma cell line at high concentrations. The photothermal properties were evaluated using a NIR laser, which despite its low power showed the conversion of light into heat. This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of these nanostructures as therapeutic agents with an emphasis on toxicity.