Recent Advances in Photonic Polymerase Chain Reaction Processes with Functionalized Nanomaterials

The amplification of genes [deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) and ribose nucleic acid] is a vital molecular tool not only in elementary research but also in application-oriented fields, such as industrial quality control, infectious disease diagnosis, clinical medicine development, and gene cloning. Gene amplification is directed by a photonic thermocycler, which is programmed for the alteration of the reaction temperature every few minutes to allow DNA denaturation and synthesis. Photonic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) represents a novel solution for the rapid amplification of genetic materials to achieve the goals of point-of-care diagnosis in a pandemic situation. Some nanoscale materials are able to emit thermal energy after the absorption of radiation with a wide range of frequency. This energy conversion process has been characterized by the surface plasmatic resonance of photothermal nanomaterials highly related to photonic technology. Many photonic PCR systems related to photothermal activity have been proposed while minimizing the thermal cycle time with photonic PCR techniques. The thermal cycle time of the photonic PCR is faster than conventional PCR applications, and this new technique is thought to have potential for the application to clinical and environmental diagnostics, which is the field with a need for rapid diagnosis.