ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews different properties of nanohybrids based on gold-iron oxide nanostructures and their applications in biological and medical fields. Gold-iron oxide nanostructures in hybrid form emerged as a promising class for enhanced applications, especially in the medical field where a single nanosystem can be used for multitherapy, for example, magnetic hyperthermia and plasmon thermotherapy. Iron oxide exists in 16 different types which have different orders of crystallinity and atomic arrangement. Magnetite, maghemite, and hematite are more important among the forms. An important factor that needs to be evaluated in the case of nanoscale contact between iron oxide and gold species is magnetic behavior of the iron oxide moiety. Gold nanoparticles (NP) show efficient optical properties, while the magnetic behavior of magnetite or maghemite is well known; therefore, gold-iron oxide hybrid NPs behave as a multifunctional material ensemble. The chapter discusses applications of some nanostructures in magnetic hyperthermia, multimodel imaging, and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.
