Conjugated polymer for voltage-controlled release of molecules

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Liu, Shenghua and Fu, Ying and Li, Guijun and Li, Li and Law, Helen Ka-wai and Chen, Xianfeng and Yan, Feng (2017) Conjugated polymer for voltage-controlled release of molecules. Advanced Materials, 29 (35). 1701733. ISSN 1521-4095 (https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201701733)

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Abstract

Conjugated polymers are attractive in numerous biological applications because they are flexible, biocompatible, cost-effective, solution-processable, and electronic/ionic conductive. One interesting application is for controllable drug release, and this has been realized previously using organic electronic ion pumps. However, organic electronic ion pumps show high operating voltages and limited transportation efficiency. Here, the first report of low-voltage-controlled molecular release with a novel organic device based on a conjugated polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) is presented. The releasing rate of molecules can be accurately controlled by the duration of the voltage applied on the device. The use of a handy mobile phone to remotely control the releasing process and its application in delivering an anticancer drug to treat cancer cells are also successfully demonstrated. The working mechanism of the device is attributed to the unique switchable permeability of poly(3-hexylthiophene) in aqueous solutions under a bias voltage that can tune the wettability of poly(3-hexylthiophene) via oxidation or reduction processes. The organic devices are expected to find many promising applications for controllable drug delivery in biological systems.

ORCID iDs

Liu, Shenghua, Fu, Ying ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8196-6493, Li, Guijun, Li, Li, Law, Helen Ka-wai, Chen, Xianfeng and Yan, Feng;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)