Recent Advances in the Synthesis and Applications of Multimodal Gold-Iron Nanoparticles

Bimetallic particles based on gold and iron have been gathering increasing interest in biomedical applications because of the synergic combination of the plasmonic features of the inert gold component with the magnetic properties of the iron or iron oxide fraction, that makes these hybrid nanomaterials suitable for imaging, therapeutic and analytical applications. In this minireview, we emphasize gold-based nanomaterials with potential for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, focusing on Au-Fe hybrid systems as potential T2-weighted, goldbased contrast agents.