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Updated: Dec 22, 2025
Electroactive Polymer Nanoparticles Exhibiting Photothermal Properties
Published on: January 8, 2016
Electro-responsive films containing voltage responsive gated mesoporous silica nanoparticles grafted onto PEDOT-based
Alba García-Fernández1, Beatriz Lozano-Torres1, Juan F Blandez2
1Instituto Interuniversitario de Investigación de Reconocimiento Molecular y Desarrollo Tecnológico (IDM), Universitat Politècnica de Valencia, Universitat de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain; Unidad Mixta UPV-CIPF de Investigación en Mecanismos de Enfermedades y Nanomedicina, Valencia, Universitat Politècnica de València, Centro de Investigación Príncipe Felipe, València, Spain; CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Spain; Unidad Mixta de Investigación en Nanomedicina y Sensores, Universitat Politècnica de València, IIS La Fe, Valencia, Spain.
Abstract:
The characteristics and electromechanical properties of conductive polymers together to their biocompatibility have boosted their application as a suitable tool in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. However, conducting polymers as drug release materials are far from being ideal. A possibility to overcome this drawback is to combine conducting polymers with on-command delivery particles with inherent high-loading capacity. In this scenario, we report here the preparation of conduction polymers containing gated mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) loaded with a cargo that is delivered on command by electro-chemical stimuli increasing the potential use of conducting polymers as controlled delivery systems. MSNs are loaded with Rhodamine B (Rh B), anchored to the conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) doped with poly[(4-styrenesulfonic acid)-co-(maleic acid)], functionalized with a bipyridinium derivative and pores are capped with heparin (P3) by electrostatic interactions. P3 releases the entrapped cargo after the application of -640 mV voltage versus the saturated calomel electrode (SCE). Pore opening in the nanoparticles and dye delivery is ascribed to both (i) the reduction of the grafted bipyridinium derivative and (ii) the polarization of the conducting polymer electrode to negative potentials that induce detachment of positively charged heparin from the surface of the nanoparticles. Biocompatibility and cargo release studies were carried out in HeLa cells cultures.
