Defying symmetry: a ‘flowery’ architecture with augmented surface area from gold coated polymeric ‘nanoblooms’

Abstract

We demonstrate the synthesis and characterization of gold coated polymeric ‘nanoblooms’ that lead to an unusual flowery contour architecture with a high surface area. The unique architecture and properties of these nanoparticles achieved high gold loading, which can be exploited for many different biomedical applications. A preliminary computed tomographic imaging study shows multi-fold improvement in radio-opacity as compared to the non-clustered gold nanoparticles prepared.