Conjugated Polymer-Based Photothermal Therapy for Killing Microorganisms

Microbial infections pose major threats to human health, and such a situation is further exasperated by microbial resistance to conventional antibiotics. It is therefore highly imperative to develop antimicrobial agents or strategies to achieve effective microbicidal effects. Recently, conjugated polymers (CPs) have shown their capacity to serve as effective photothermal agents (PTAs) for antimicrobial photothermal therapy (PTT). In this review, we first introduce the latest advances in the development of CPs as PTAs for combating microbes. We focus on the most-investigated polydopamine (PDA)-based PTT for killing microorganisms, in which the PDA-based PTAs are mainly in the formulations of nanoparticles, hydrogels, and surface coatings. Meanwhile, we present antimicrobial PTT based on the other CPs, including polypyrrole, polyaniline, and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene). Finally, we discuss both the current limitations and future directions of the CP-derived antimicrobial PTT.