Pickering Bubbles as Dual-Modality Ultrasound and Photoacoustic Contrast Agents.

Microbubbles (MBs) stabilized by particle surfactants (., Pickering bubbles) have better thermodynamic stability compared to MBs stabilized by small molecules as a result of steric hindrance against coalescence, higher diffusion resistance, and higher particle desorption energy. In addition, the use of particles to stabilize MBs that are typically used as an ultrasound (US) contrast agent can also introduce photoacoustic (PA) properties, thus enabling a highly effective dual-modality US and PA contrast agent.