A simple route to prepare monodisperse Au NP-decorated, dye-doped, superparamagnetic nanocomposites for optical, MR, and CT trimodal imaging

Monodisperse and uniform AuNP-decorated, dye-doped, superparamagnetic nanocomposites (Fe₃O₄@dye-hybrid@Au) are fabricated by using a simple method in which the Au NP formation and their attachment onto the core surface via S-Au covalent bonds proceeds almost simultaneously in a one-pot synthesis. The as-synthesized nanocomposites can simultaneously enhance the contrast effects for MR, CT, and cellular-sensitive optical imaging.