Conducting Polymers as Biointerfaces and Biomaterials: A Perspective for a Special Issue of Polymer Reviews

Abstract

Interest in applying conducting polymers (CPs) to biomedical applications has been gathering momentum in this decade. In the beginning, CPs attracted attention mainly because of the feasibility of applying electrical stimuli through CPs for tissue regeneration. Today, CPs have been used in various biomedical applications, including biosensors, artificial muscle, drug delivery, and neural probes, mainly thanks to the long-term stability of their electrical properties in biological environments. On the other hand, the synthesis of CP nanostructures and their impacts have attracted attention because of specific interactions between nanosized materials and biological molecules. Fundamental studies on the mechanism of electrical stimuli through CPs continue to attract interest. This special issue of Polymer Reviews focuses on recent studies on the interfacial phenomena between CPs and biological molecules and highlights the biomedical applications and future directions in this field.