Properties of radioactive gold nanoparticles

The properties of radioactive AuNP, especially the influence of diameter and clustering behavior on the energy deposits characteristics were described in detail in our previous work¹⁵. Briefly, ¹⁹⁸Au has an isotope mass of 198 u and a half life of 2.7  days. With a specific activity of 9.03×10¹⁵ Bq/g, it performs a β- decay with particle energies of 961 keV (99%) and 285 keV(1%) respectively, as well as γ emissions with energies of 412 keV (96%), 676 keV (<1%) and 1088 keV (<1%) to the stable isotope ¹⁹⁸Hg⁶¹. The range of the β particles lies around (0.2-5) mm⁶². By adjusting the ratio of radioactive ¹⁹⁸Au to non-radioactive ¹⁹⁷Au within the AuNP, the individual activity of the AuNP, and therefore the delivered dose, can be adjusted to some extend independently from the number and AuNP radius itself. This can be achieved by parameters of the activation procedure⁶⁴. Details on AuNP synthesis and the activation by neutrons can be found in^63,64.