Fabrication of high performance conducting polymer nanocomposites for biosensors and flexible electronics: summary of the multiple roles of DNA dispersed and functionalized single walled carbon nanotubes

Inspired by the remarkable electrical and thermal conductivities, and the superior mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), tremendous efforts have been made over the past decade to prepare polymer and carbon nanotube composites. However to truly synergistically combine the merits of each individual component in the nanocomposites, it is critical to understand monomer-nanotube interfacial chemical and electronic interactions during polymerization and polymer-nanotube interfacial interactions after the polymerization. By taking advantage of the well-documented surface chemistry and electronic structure of ss-DNA-SWNTs, our group studied these multiple interactions to obtain synergistic enhancement in the fabrication of conducting polymer composites for biosensor and flexible electronics applications. This feature article summarizes some of our recent findings.