Cs0.33WO3 nanoparticles have been prepared successfully by a stirred bead milling process. By grinding micro-sized coarse powder with grinding beads of 50 μm in diameter, the mean hydrodynamic diameter of Cs0.33WO3 powder could be reduced to about 50 nm in 3 h, and a stable aqueous dispersion could be obtained at pH 8 via electrostatic repulsion mechanism. After grinding, the resulting Cs0.33WO...

Raster image correlation spectroscopy (RICS) measures the diffusion of fluorescently labelled molecules from stacks of confocal microscopy images by analysing correlations within the image. RICS enables the observation of a greater and, thus, more representative area of a biological system as compared to other single molecule approaches. Photothermal microscopy of gold nanoparticles allows long...

Lipid-based liquid crystalline systems are showing potential as stimuli-responsive nanomaterials, and NIR-responsive gold nanoparticles have been demonstrated to provide control of transitions in non-lamellar phases. In this study, we focus on a deeper understanding of the photothermal response of both lamellar and non-lamellar phases, and new systems formed by alternative lipid systems not pre...

Poor water-solubility of artesunate (ARS) hampers its clinical application. We here covalently linked ARS to PEGylated nanographene oxide (nGO-PEG) to obtain ARS-modified nGO-PEG (nGO-PEG-ARS) with excellent photothermal effect and dispersibility in physiological environment. nGO-PEG-ARS induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) and peroxynitrite (ONOO─) generations. Although nGO-PEG with near-infr...

Performances of four related techniques i.e., photoacoustic spectroscopy, photothermal deflection, thermal lensing, and photothermal phase shift spectroscopy have been compared to the conventional beam transmittance spectrophotometry. This concerns to the analytical potential in studies of environmental pollutants. Solutions of pesticides in water are used as specimens in this study. Spectropho...

We demonstrate polyethylene-glycol-coated single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as contrast agents for both photothermal optical coherence tomography (OCT) and magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI). Photothermal OCT was accomplished with a spectral domain OCT system with an amplitude-modulated 750 nm pump beam using 10 mW of power, and T(2) MRI was achieved with a 4.7 T animal system. Photothermal O...

We report a technique to measure the mid-infrared photothermal response induced by a tunable quantum cascade laser in the neat liquid crystal 4-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (8CB), without any intercalated dye. Heterodyne detection using a Ti:sapphire laser of the response in the solid, smectic, nematic and isotropic liquid crystal phases allows direct detection of a weak mid-infrared normal mode abso...

We describe the operation of an all-optical probe that provides an alternative means of implementing photoacoustic and photothermal investigative techniques, particularly those used in biomedical applications. The probe is based on a transparent, acoustically and thermally sensitive Fabry-Perot polymer film sensor mounted at the end of an optical fiber. We demonstrate the ability of the system ...

A mid-IR photothermal imaging system is presented that features an integrated ultrafast erbium-doped fiber probe laser for the first time. With a mid-IR tunable quantum cascade laser (QCL) as the pump laser, vibrational molecular modes are excited and the thermally-induced changes in the refractive index are measured with a probe laser. The custom-built, all-fiber ultrafast probe laser at telec...

Phototherapy is a promising strategy for cancer treatment due to its selective and localized therapeutic effect by laser irradiation. Photothermal therapy damages malignant cells by using heat converted from light by an agent. On the other hand, photodynamic therapy uses photosensitizers that become cytotoxic upon irradiation with laser light at excitation wavelength. As singular treatment of e...