Ultra-bright gold nanoshells provide up to a 20× increase in lateral flow diagnostic sensitivity over 40 nm gold nanoparticles. Combining the benefits of gold nanoshell brightness and covalent conjugate stability, gold nanoshells are recommended for achieving maximum assay sensitivity.

Gold nanoshells consist of a 120 nm silica core coated with a 15 nm thick gold shell.  Due to the plasmon resonance of the gold nanoshells, an intense blue line will be visible on white lateral flow test strips.