Grafting of Gold Nanorods onto the Surface of Graphene Oxide by Polyethylene glycol Linkers for Photothermal Therapy

Gold nanorods (GNRs) are a type of the nanomaterials that could absorb near-infrared light and convert it to heat. This property can be used for photothermal therapy of the cancerdisease. According to literatures, CTAB is one of the widely used surfactant for the synthesis of GNRs. However, due tocell toxicity of CTAB, it is necessary to separate it from gold nanorods and modify with various polymers their surface for biological studies.[1]. Polymer coated GNRs are stable and soluble in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution and useful for biomedical applications [2]. Furthermore, Graphene oxidewith unique physical and chemical properties has shown various potential applications in biomedicine [3]. Owing to itshigh optical absorption in the near-infrared (NIR) region, graphene oxide (GO) has also been used for efficient photothermal ablation of tumors in recent years [4]. Thereforethe hybrid nanomaterial of gold nanorod and graphene oxide can efficiency enhance photothermal ablation of tumors.