Laser-Ablative Synthesis of Stable Aqueous Solutions of Elemental Bismuth Nanoparticles for Multimodal Theranostic Applications

F68 and their subsequent transfer to water. We also show that the laser-synthesized elemental Bi NPs, due to their vanishing band gap, exhibit remarkable absorption in the infrared range, which can be used for the activation of photothermal therapy in the near IR-to-IR window with maximum optical transparency in biological media. Exempt of any toxic synthetic by-products, laser-ablated elemental Bi NPs present a novel appealing nanoplatform for combination image-guided photoradiotherapies.