Effects of pulsed laser irradiation on gold-coated silver nanoplates and their antibacterial activity.

Gold-coated silver nanoplates, when subjected to pulsed laser irradiation, changed their shape from triangular to spherical, accompanied by a shift of their extinction spectra. The simple single crystal structure of the silver nanoplates changed to multiple small crystal domains. The ratio of silver to gold of the particles also changed from 22 : 1 to 4.5 : 1, enabling more silver to be released. As a result, the antibacterial activity of the gold-coated silver nanoplates was significantly increased after pulsed laser irradiation.