Precision 'stubby' gold nanorod synthesis offers hope for biomedicine

Gold nanorods made by the North Carolina State University process are said to be suited to biomedical applications due to their optical properties.

‘This technique should facilitate the economical manufacture of large volumes of gold nanorods,’ said Dr Joseph Tracy, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and senior author of a paper on the work. ‘And that should be good news for both the science community and the biomedical research and development community.’

The NC State team started with an existing technique, in which gold nanorods are formed by mixing two chemical solutions together. However, the technique converts 30 per cent of the gold into nanorods with the remains dissolved in solution.

To convert the remaining 70 per cent of the gold into nanorods, the researchers added a continuous stream of ascorbic acid to the solution, while constantly stirring the mixture, which pulls the gold out of the solution and deposits it on the existing nanorods.