Conducting and Conjugated Polymers for Biosensing Applications

Although most currently available conjugated or conducting polymers were originally developed for non-bio applications, a growing number are now being utilised in a variety of transducer formats including as electrodes, thin film transistors and more, for biosensing. The advent of conducting polymer devices used for interfacing with biology is motivated by a desire to bridge the gap between the transducer and the biorecognition element by using carbon based materials found in biological systems as the active material in the transducer. General features of these materials, which render them attractive for biosensing, include optical transparency in a range useful for cell biology, decreased rigidity compared to traditional electrode materials, chemical tunability, ease of biofunctionalization, and label free electronic transduction. In this chapter, we will summarize recent advances in biosensing using conducting polymers, highlighting novel uses of these highly functional materials for increasingly complex biological applications. We will further show the trend towards the use of conducting polymers in clinical applications. Finally, we will discuss novel conducting polymers which have been designed and synthesized specifically with biosensing in mind.