Characterization of nanoporous gold disks for photothermal light harvesting and light-gated molecular release

Nanoporous gold disks (NPGDs) with 400 nm diameter, 75 nm thickness, and 13 nm pores exhibit large specific surface area and effective photothermal light harvesting capability with a conversion efficiency of 56%. A potential application is demonstrated by light-gated, multi-step molecular release of the pre-adsorbed R6G fluorescent dye on arrayed NPGDs.