Abstract

Background: Polyaniline (PANi) is the oldest and potentially the most useful conductive polymer due to its outstanding physicochemical properties. Furthermore, it is a potentially attractive material for applications in biochemical and biomedical engineering.

Objective: In this review, we focus on the rapid development of near infrared (NIR) light-responsive cancer therapy based on various smartly designed PANi-based nanocomposites. In detail, the use of NIR-responsive PANi nanomaterials for photothermal therapy (PTT) is highlighted, and the challenges and solutions are also reported.

Method: There has been growing interest in the potential use of PANi in the field of nanomedicine, tissue engineering, cell stimulation and drug delivery. Some researchers focused on conjugated PANi with other materials, such as extracellular matrix, polymers. The conjugated PANi composites show, indeed, improved properties in biomedical application, especially in PTT to cure cancer because of a specific amount of photo energy delivered directly into the tumor mass region without causing systemic side effects.

Conclusion: The multifunctional PANi will be new avenues in the near future to fulfill the translation of NIR light activated PTT from preclinical to clinical applications to fight against cancers. And the future research should be focused on the different designs of surface modification on PANi-based nanoparticles (NPs) fabrications to improve the properties for biomedical application.

Keywords: Biomedical application, conducting polymer, nanostructure, oxidative polymerization, photothermal therapy, polyaniline.

Graphical Abstract