Progress in conducting polymers for biointerfacing and biorecognition applications

Abstract

Conducting polymers are an exciting class of organic electronic materials, which have attracted an increasing interest in the fields of bioelectronics and their biomedical applications. Their unique features such as mixed ionic-electronic conductivity, good biocompatibility, as well as mechanical softness make them favored candidates for an effective conduit between the worlds of electronics and biology. In addition, the facile synthesis, simple functionalization, and ability to electronically control a range of physical and chemical properties of these materials has enabled considerable development for biorecognition and biosensors devices. In this review, we have turned our attention to recent progress in the tailoring of the conducting polymers functionalities, focusing especially on neural interfaces, molecularly imprinted conducting polymers for biorecognition and bioactive scaffolds for mechanotransduction in living cells.