Seedless preparation of Au nanorods by hydroquinone assistant and red blood cell membrane camouflage

Au nanorods (AuNRs) have attracted extensive attention in diagnosis and therapy, because of their excellent photothermal effects. Although many of attempts have been employed to prepare AuNRs with a good-size monodispersity, facile and feasible preparation methods are still welcomed in consideration of theranostics-related photothermal applications. In this work, AuNRs are prepared through a seedless method using hydroquinone as the reductant. The longitudinal located surface plasmon resonance peak of the as-prepared AuNRs can be tuned from 650 to 840 nm and the AuNRs indicate a good photothermal conversion efficiency. To lower the toxicity, natural red blood cell membranes are employed to coat the AuNRs. In the primary experiment in vitro, red blood cell membrane-coated AuNRs exhibit good biocompatibility and photothermal treatment effect.