Preparation of Au-based hybrid nanoflowers as efficient photothermal agents for antibacterial application

In this study, hybrid nanoflowers ([email protected]) composed of polydopamine and gold were constructed as photothermal agents using a template approach. The key strategies are to use scaffolds as platforms for polydopamine deposition and further modulate Au nanoparticle (AuNP) growth. The resultant [email protected] exhibited excellent stability and could overcome the shortcomings of nanoparticle aggregation. Furthermore, hybrid nanoflowers showed enhanced photothermal conversion ability, which is attributed to the broadband absorption, and multibranched structures. The photothermal antibacterial results suggest that with the temperature increasing from 45 ℃ to 55 ℃, the antibacterial efficiency could reach 99%. These findings show that [email protected] triggered by near-infrared (NIR) exhibited effective antibacterial activity.