Portfolio of colloidally stable gold-gold sulfide nanoparticles and their use in broad-band photoacoustic imaging.

There is an increasing interest in non-invasive photoacoustic imaging and hence demand for non-toxic, stable, optical solid absorbers, particularly in the visible and near-infrared regions enabling deep tissue penetration. The most popular gold nanorods (GNR) suffer from cumbersome synthesis with poor reproducibility and stability under moderate laser exposure. Recently, a new class of nanoparticle, gold-gold sulfide (GGS), was recognized to have strong NIR absorption but lack colloidal stability.