Development of graphene oxide-wrapped gold nanorods as robust nanoplatform for ultrafast near-infrared SERS bioimaging

The rapid development of near-infrared surface-enhanced Raman scattering (NIR SERS) imaging technology has attracted strong interest from scientists and clinicians due to its narrow spectral bandwidth, low background interference, and deep imaging depth. In this report, the graphene oxide (GO)-wrapped gold nanorods (GO@GNRs) were developed as a smart and robust nanoplatform for ultrafast NIR SERS bioimaging. The fabricated GO@ GNRs could efficiently load various NIR probes, and the in vitro evaluation indicated that the nanoplatform could exhibit a higher NIR SERS activity in comparison with traditional gold nanostructures. The GOs were prepared by directly pyrolyzing citric acid for greater convenience, and GO@ GNRs were fabricated via a facile synthesis strategy. Higher NIR SERS activity, facile synthesis method, excellent biocompatibility, and superb stability make the GO@ GNRs/probe complex promising nanoprobes for NIR SERS-based bioimaging applications.