Photo and Thermo Dual‐Responsive Copolymer Surfaces for Efficient Cell Capture and Release

Abstract To overcome the low efficiency of single‐responsive smart surfaces, we have constructed a dual‐responsive smart surface – poly(spiropyran‐ co ‐N‐isopropylacrylamide) (poly(SP‐ co ‐NiPAAm))‐grafted silicon nanowire arrays – by combining photo‐responsive SP and thermo‐responsive NiPAAm units for enhancing the efficiencies of cancer‐cell capture and release. These enhanced efficiencies probably originate from the binary cooperative effect of two responsive building units: NiPAAm units can decrease the steric hindrance between SP units during the isomerization while SP units can facilitate phase transition of NiPAAm units. This study provides a new strategy for designing smart materials and surfaces with efficient responsiveness for biomedical applications.