Impact of gold-decorated tantalum oxide (TaOx-Au) nano-probes for low energy cancer diagnostic agent

We report the synthesis and characterization of Tantalum Oxide nanoparticles (TaOx NPs) and the Gold (Au) decorated Tantalum Oxide (TaOx-Au NPs), an efficient imaging agent for cancer diagnostics. Using an X-ray Micro-CT system, we have compared the X-ray attenuation properties of TaOx and TaOx-Au NPs. We specifically test these nanoparticles by varying the tube current and voltage for low energy X-ray molecular imaging applications. At 100 keV, increased X-ray attenuation was attributed to TaOx-Au NPs compared to TaOx NPs. Our study demonstrates the use of TaOx-Au NPs as suitable for molecular imaging in small animals using low-energy X-rays for cancer diagnosis.