Inside-out disruption of silica/gold core-shell nanoparticles by pulsed laser irradiation

Near-infrared (NIR) femtosecond laser irradiation of metallodielectric core-shell silica-gold (SiO ₂Au) nanoparticles can induce extreme local heating prior to the rapid dissipation of energy caused by the large surface area/volume ratio of nanometer-scale objects. At low pulse intensities, the dielectric silica core is removed, leaving an incomplete gold shell behind. The gold shells with water inside and out still efficiently absorb NIR light from subsequent pulses, showing that a complete shell is not necessary for absorption. At higher pulse intensities, the gold shell itself is melted and disrupted, leading to smaller, ∼20-nm gold nanoparticles. Spectroscopic measurements show that this disruption is accompanied by optical hole burning of the peak at 730 nm and formation of a new peak at 530 nm. The silica removal and gold shell disruption confirms significant temperature rise of the core-shall nanoparticle. However, the entire process leads to minimal heating of the bulk solution due to the low net energy input.