Hollow spherical gold nanoparticle superstructures with tunable diameters and visible to near-infrared extinction.

Hollow spherical gold nanoparticle superstructures with tunable diameters (∼40 nm, ∼70 nm and ∼150 nm) and visible to near-infrared surface plasmon resonances (545 nm, 670 nm, and 740 nm) are prepared using a single peptide conjugate, C6-AA-PEPAu, as the structure-directing agent. Computational models are developed to understand their optical properties.