Conductive PASomes Enable Stable Photothermal Thermal Cycling for Miniaturized Biochip Platforms

Abstract Efficient thermal cycling requires materials that can respond rapidly to external energy input while maintaining structural and functional stability during repeated operation. Here, we report PASomes, polyaniline (PANI), and polypyrrole (PPY) hybrid nanoparticles prepared in a Triton X-100-mediated system. The term PASome is a study-specific name and does not denote a vesicle or hollow nanocapsule. TEM showed a core-shell morphology, while FT-IR and 1H NMR showed features attributable to both PANI and PPY (Scheme 1). Successful hybrid formation and consistent nanoparticle morphology were verified by TEM, FT-IR, and NMR analyses. Under 808 nm laser irradiation, PASomes showed rapid thermal transitions, with heating and cooling rates of 5.5 and 3.4 °C/s, respectively. Over a representative thermal cycling range between 95 and 55 °C, PASomes maintained stable and reproducible temperature switching for 40 cycles, completing the full cycling process within 13 min. Compared with polyaniline and polypyrrole nanoparticles alone, PASomes showed improved photothermal performance, greater cycling durability, and enhanced structural stability. These findings demonstrate that PASomes function as effective conductive photothermal materials for rapid thermal cycling and support their use in compact thermal control platforms for biochip and related microscale applications.