Photothermally Driven Ultrafast Polymerase Chain Reaction: Mechanisms, Nanomaterial Architectures, and System Integration.

As one of the most important technologies in molecular biology, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been widely recognized in many fields such as infectious disease diagnosis due to its high sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy. Attempts in this field are focused on developing efficient heating mechanism to achieve efficient thermal cycles. Recently, with the in-depth research into photothermal effects, photonic PCR technology based on photothermal nanomaterials has gradually demonstrated potential to develop a new generation of ultrafast PCR instrument. Herein, we first categorize the various photothermal nanomaterials and briefly introduce their photothermal conversion mechanisms. Then, we review the photonic PCR technologies based on different nanomaterials and various heating strategies, comparing their advantages and disadvantages. We also discuss the application of photonic PCR in point-of-care testing (POCT) of nucleic acid and summarize the prospects and challenges of photonic PCR technology in clinical diagnostic applications. Finally, we look forward to the promising future research focus of photonic PCR. With this review, researchers can get a comprehensive understanding of photonic PCR from the aspects of technical principles, material selection, equipment development strategies, and so on, paving the way for future research.