Development of indocyanine green loaded Au@Silica core shell nanoparticles for plasmonic enhanced light triggered therapy

•ICG loaded Au@SiO2@mSiO2 nanoplatform was designed to achieve plasmonic enhanced photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT), the optimized configuration was verified both experimentally and theoretically.•Photo quenching was avoided by the inner dense silica layer.•ICG protection was achieved by the outer mesoporous silica layer.•Three times enhancement of cancer cells destruction than free ICG was achieved by the best configuration.