Soft Mixed Conductors Towards Enhanced Sensing and Tissue Regeneration

Direct measurement and stimulation of ionic, biomolecular, cellular, and tissue-scale activity is a staple of bioelectronic diagnosis and/or therapy. Such bi-directional interfacing can be enhanced by a unique set of properties imparted by organic electronic materials. These materials, based on conjugated polymers, can be adapted for use in biological settings and show significant molecular-level interaction with their local environment, readily swell, and provide soft, seamless mechanical matching with tissue. At the same time, their swelling and mixed conduction allows for enhanced ionic-electronic coupling for transduction of biosignals. Such properties stress the importance of bulk transport processes, and serve to enable new capabilities in bioelectronics, including new device concepts and form factors. I will demonstrate how such materials properties relax design constraints, allowing for flexible amplification systems and biochemical detection schemes. I will also discuss the unique form factors as applied to electroactive scaffolds and bioactive composites to modulate tissue state and/or cell fate. New materials design will continue to fill critical need gaps for challenging problems in bio-electronic interfacing.