Thermal characterization of solutions containing gold nanoparticles at different pH values

The thermal lens spectrometry (TLS) technique was used to obtain the thermal diffusivity of solutions containing gold nanoparticles (15 nm average diameter) at different pH values. TLS, in a mode-mismatched dual beam configuration, provides a reliable alternative to measure, with high sensitivity, the thermal diffusivities of semitransparent materials, and low thermal diffusivities. The results show that the nanofluid thermal diffusivity increases when the pH is increased. These results will be compared with reported studies for nanofluids with variable pH. From this comparison, it can be seen that the pH values of the solutions influenced the superficial density of charges in the nanoparticles. Also, optical absorption spectra for these gold nanoparticle solutions were obtained using a spectrophotometer, and the nanoparticle size was obtained by the TEM technique. The present measurements were performed at room temperature. This study is important for some medical applications such as photothermal cancer therapy.