Recent progress of conjugated polymers in biosensing and biomedical applications

Abstract

<p indent="0mm">Conjugated polymers (CPs) with delocalized π–π conjugated backbones have shown broad applications in biomedical fields. Compared with traditional fluorescent small molecules, conjugated polymers have attracted extensive attention due to large optical absorption coefficients, high singlet-oxygen yields and good biocompatibility. Based on the structure design and performance control of conjugated polymers, this article mainly introduces our research progress in the design and synthesis of conjugated polymers and their applications in biosensing, pathogen killing and tumor treatment in the past ten years. It also discusses the main opportunities and challenges in the future.