Conducting Polymer–Nanomaterial Hybrids for Cancer Diagnostics
TL;DR
The potential of CP–NM hybrid platforms to drive next-generation approaches for early cancer detection, therapeutic monitoring, and personalized healthcare is emphasized, focusing on material design strategies, sensing mechanisms, and representative applications across electrochemical, optical, and mechanical modalities.
Abstract
Cancer continues to pose a major global burden because of the high incidence and mortality, underscoring the urgent need for innovative and highly sensitive diagnostic technologies. Conducting polymer–nanomaterial (CP–NM) hybrid biosensors have become promising platforms for cancer biomarker detection, integrating the redox-active and biocompatible nature of conducting polymers such as polyaniline (PANI), polypyrrole (PPy), and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) with the high surface area and charge transport properties of nanomaterials, including metallic nanoparticles, metal oxides, carbon-based nanostructures, and two-dimensional materials. The synergistic interfaces in these hybrids enable efficient electron transfer, signal amplification, and stable biomolecular immobilization, facilitating ultrasensitive and multiplexed detection of proteins, nucleic acids, and metabolites associated with tumor progression. This review highlights recent advances in CP–NM hybrid biosensors for cancer diagnostics, focusing on material design strategies, sensing mechanisms, and representative applications across electrochemical, optical, and mechanical modalities. Finally, key challenges and future perspectives are discussed, emphasizing the potential of CP–NM hybrid platforms to drive next-generation approaches for early cancer detection, therapeutic monitoring, and personalized healthcare.