Preparation of gold tetrananocages and their photothermal effect

A gold tetrahedral nanocage, i.e., a tetrananocage, that converts near-infrared （NIR） light into heat was fabricated by using a simple method. Silver tetrahedra with good homogeneity and dispersity were synthesized by a hydrothermal route. Gold tetrananocages were obtained using a galvanic replacement reaction between Ag tetrahedra and HAuC14 solution. The surface plasmon resonance （SPR） of gold tetrananocages was tuned from 412 nm to 850 nm through controlling the volume of HAuC14 solution added. This Au tetrananocage can effectively convert NIR light into heat when the SPR couples with the exciting light. When cancer cells are cultured with the gold tetrananocages for several hours and irradiated, the gold tetrananocages destroy the cancer cells effectively and demonstrate themselves to be a good candidate for combating cancer.