ABSTRACT
There has been a dramatic rise in the development of technologies using nanoparticles as a result of their intriguing physical, chemical, and optical properties. Nanoparticles are defined as particles with diameters below 100 nm. On the nanoscale, materials can possess characteristics that differ from their bulk state. From photocatalysis and photovoltaics to photodiagnosis and phototherapy, the interaction of light with nanoparticles is an area of research that is proving to be increasingly important. In addition to the advantageous nanometer size, the highly tunable size, shape, surface area-to-volume ratio, and photochemical or photophysical properties of nanoparticles make them attractive candidates for multimodal biological applications. Such applications include drug delivery, bioimaging, phototherapy, as well as various other clinical diagnostic and therapeutic applications (Burda et al. 2005). The focus of this chapter is the use of nanoparticles for the photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer.
