Hydrogel Bioelectronics, Bioacoustics and Biophotonics

Whereas human tissues and organs are mostly soft, wet and bioactive; machines are commonly hard, dry and abiotic. Merging humans and machines is of imminent importance in addressing grand societal challenges in health, sustainability, security, education and joy of living. However, merging humans and machines is also extremely challenging due to their fundamentally contradictory properties. At MIT Zhao Lab, we exploit hydrogels to form long-term, high-efficacy, multi-modal interfaces and merger between humans and machines. In this talk, I will discuss hydrogel bioelectronics, bioacoustics, and biophotonics. Specifically, I will discuss examples including nonfibrotic hydrogel bioelectrodes, hydrogel ultrasound couplants that enable wearable imaging, and hydrogel optical fibers that replace rigid optical fibers. I will conclude the talk with a vision for future human-machine convergence aided by materials science and artificial intelligence.