Design of Opto-Thermally Responsive Nanocomposites: Exploring their Applications as Nanovalves for In Vitro Single-Cell Addressable Delivery Systems

Over the last few years, there have been efforts to create in vitro devices with controlled and predictable microenvironment conditions. One major alternative that has been explored is the design of microfluidic devices with mechanical actuators, which serve to achieve spatiotemporal control of flow and chemical gradients. Hence, the necessity to synthesize and design materials that can respond to localized stimuli so they can be incorporated into microfluidic systems. Light responsive materials are a great option for this application since their response can be easily triggered at highly localized sites (using lasers) without requiring physical contact. The contribution of this work is to synthesize, and characterize the heat conduction of opto?thermally responsive polymer?metal nanocomposite