Sponge-like nanostructured conducting polymers for electrically controlled drug release

An electrically controlled drug release (ECDR) system based on sponge-like nanostructured conducting polymer (CP) polypyrrole (PPy) film was developed. The nanostructured PPy film was composed of template-synthesized nanoporous PPy covered with a thin protective PPy layer. The proposed controlled release system can load drug molecules in the polymer backbones and inside the nanoholes respectively. Electrical stimulation can release drugs from both the polymer backbones and the nanoholes, which significantly improves the drug load and release efficiency. Furthermore, with one drug incorporated in the polymer backbone during electrochemical polymerization, the nanoholes inside the polymer can act as containers to store a different drug, and simultaneous electrically triggered release of different drugs can be realized with this system. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.