Survey of semiconducting polymer nanoparticle stability in buffer solutions for in vivo applications

Stevens Research Group at Imperial College London

Position: Undergraduate Researcher, Exchange Student

July 2018 — August 2018, January 2019 — May 2019

Semiconducting polymers have received a great deal of interest due to both sharing the properties of inorganic semiconductors (Silicon, GaAs, etc.) whilst sharing the properties of organic materials (flexible, biocompatible, and solution processable). This allows for a vast quantity of new applications currently inaccessible with conventional semiconductors.

One application is semiconducting polymer nanoparticles (SPNs), effectively bright (fluorescent) polymer nanospheres of semiconducting polymers dispersed in water. This project studies the fluorescent nature of these materials for applications bioimaging and therapeutics in vivo.

Below: MIT Exchange Students at Imperial College London, Spring 2019