Fabrication of double-doped magnetic silica nanospheres and deposition of thin gold layer

Double-doped magnetic particles that incorporated magnetites into both the surface and inside the silica cores were fabricated via the sol-gel reaction of citrate-stabilized magnetites with silicon alkoxide. Double-doped magnetic particles were easily fabricated and exhibited an higher magnetism in comparison to the single-doped magnetic particles that were prepared by the erosion of surface-deposited magneties from double-doped magentic particles. Thin gold layer was formed over magnetic silica nanospheres via nanoseed-mediated growth of gold clusters. The plasmon-derived absorption bands of double-doped magnetic silica-gold nanoshells were more broadened and shifted down by ca. 20 nm as compared to those of single-doped magnetic silicagold nanoshells, which were attributed to not only the surface scattering of incident light due to relatively rough surafce morphology, but also heterogeneous permittivity of dielectric cores due to surface-deposited magnetites.