Self-doped conducting polymers in biomedical engineering: Synthesis, characterization, current applications and perspectives

Recent studies willingly agree that conducting polymers (CPs) are attractive materials for biomedical engineering purposes, mainly because of their unique physicochemical characteristics combining electrical conductivity and high biocompatibility. Nevertheless, the applicability of CPs is restricted by their limited stability under physiological conditions, associated with a decrease in electrical conductivity upon dedoping. Accordingly, modifying chemical structure of CPs to exhibit a self-doping effect seems to be an appealing approach aimed to enhance their functionality. The aim of this review is to provide a current state-of-the-art in the research concerning self-doped CPs, particularly those with potential biomedical applications. After presenting a library of available structure modifications, we describe their physicochemical characteristics, focusing on achievable conductivities, electrochemical, optical and mechanical behaviour, as well as biological properties. To highlight high applicability of self-doped CPs in biomedical engineering, we elaborate on biomedical areas benefiting most from using this type of conducting materials.

Thiophene-Based Trimers and Their Bioapplications: An Overview

Certainly, the success of polythiophenes is due in the first place to their outstanding electronic properties and superior processability. Nevertheless, there are additional reasons that contribute to arouse the scientific interest around these materials. Among these, the large variety of chemical modifications that is possible to perform on the thiophene ring is a precious aspect. In particular, a turning point was marked by the diffusion of synthetic strategies for the preparation of terthiophenes: the vast richness of approaches today available for the easy customization of these structures allows the finetuning of their chemical, physical, and optical properties. Therefore, terthiophene derivatives have become an extremely versatile class of compounds both for direct application or for the preparation of electronic functional polymers. Moreover, their biocompatibility and ease of functionalization make them appealing for biology and medical research, as it testifies to the blossoming of studies in these fields in which they are involved. It is thus with the willingness to guide the reader through all the possibilities offered by these structures that this review elucidates the synthetic methods and describes the full chemical variety of terthiophenes and their derivatives. In the final part, an in-depth presentation of their numerous bioapplications intends to provide a complete picture of the state of the art.

Synthesis, characterization and physicochemical studies of copolymers of aniline and 3-nitroaniline

Polyaniline (PA), the versatile conducting polymer, owing to its tunable optoelectronic properties, facile preparation methodology and reversible redox behavior, has elicited much interest among current researchers, particularly in the fields of energy generation storage devices, protective coatings and electrochemical sensors. However, its commercialization has been much restricted due to low solution processability and thermal stability. Recent studies reveal that the above-mentioned challenges can effectively be addressed by copolymerization of PA with suitable components. In addition, the properties of copolymers could be modified and tuned by varying the monomer ratios. Thus, the present work is concerned with the fabrication of poly(aniline-co-3-nitroaniline) with varying compositions obtained by in situ oxidative copolymerization of aniline and 3-nitroaniline by altering the molar ratio of monomers. Optimization of the physicochemical properties such as UV–visible absorption, solubility, thermal stability, electrical conductivity and dielectric signatures, particle size and morphology was achieved by varying the composition of monomeric substituents in these copolymers. Smoother morphology of the copolymer films was revealed by morphological studies via AFM technique and supported by particle size distribution study. The physicochemical trends demonstrated that proper proportions of nitro (–NO2) group in the polymer chain are essential to achieve desired optimal physicochemical properties. Therefore, copolymers are ideally appropriate for multifaceted applications and would promote wider usage of conjugated polymers in various fields of organic-based optoelectronic as well as energy storage devices in the near future.

Seebeck coefficients of regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) correlated with doping levels

Thermoelectric properties of regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) were investigated in correlation with doping level measured by a potential-step chronocoulometry (PSC) method. It was found that the log-log plot of Seebeck coefficients against doping levels showed a good linearity, whose slope value was around -1.

Synthesis of EDOT-containing polythiophenes and their properties in relation to the composition ratio of EDOT

Polythiophenes composed of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene and 3-hexylthiophene with different composition ratios are synthesized and their optical, electrochemical and electrical properties are investigated in terms of the composition ratio.