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Updated: Apr 25, 2026

Preparation and Photoacoustic Analysis of Cellular Vehicles Containing Gold Nanorods
Published on: May 2, 2016
Orientationally ordered colloidal co-dispersions of gold nanorods and cellulose nanocrystals
Qingkun Liu1, Michael G Campbell, Julian S Evans
1Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA.
Abstract:
Nematic-like and helicoidally orientational self-assemblies of gold nanorods co-dispersed with cellulose nanocrystals to form liquid crystalline phases are developed. Polarization-sensitive extinction spectra and two-photon luminescence imaging are used to characterize orientations and spatial distributions of gold nanorods. Cholesteric-isotropic phase coexistence and continuous domains of single-phase regions are observed and qualitatively discussed on the basis of entropic and electrostatic interactions in co-dispersions of rigid rods of different aspect ratios. Potential applications include biologically compatible plasmonic composite nanomaterials for solar biofuel production and polarization-sensitive plasmonic papers and fabrics.
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