ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE POLYMER NANOTUBES WITH ANTI-BACTERIAL PROPERTIES

Nanotubes (NT) composed of the electrically active polymer poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) have been used for photothermal ablation of both gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria. Since infrared absorption of PEDOT is dominated by bipolarons strongly coupled to phonons, we hypothesize that nonradiative decay of these states leads to heat generation. Photothermal death of bacteria by PEDOT NT was compared to single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT). Complete eradication of bacterial colonies incubated with 100 ug/ml of either PEDOT NT or SWNT occurred with a single exposure to 1064 nm light (3.8 W/cm2) for 60 s. PEDOT NT were also shown to elicit a mild antibacterial response upon incubation with bacteria and no infrared exposure. PEDOT NT have the same capacity for photothermal ablation of bacteria as compared to SWNT; therefore, they represent an exciting new class of polymer based nanoparticles for medically-relevant photothermal therapies.