Conducting polymer hydrogels represent a unique class of materials that synergizes the advantageous features of hydrogels and organic conductors and have been used in many applications such as bioelectronics and energy storage devices. They are often synthesized by polymerizing conductive polymer monomer within a nonconducting hydrogel matrix, resulting in deterioration of their electrical properties. Here, we report a scalable and versatile synthesis of multifunctional polyaniline (PAni) hydrogel with excellent electronic conductivity and electrochemical properties. With high surface area and three-dimensional porous nanostructures, the PAni hydrogels demonstrated potential as high-performance supercapacitor electrodes with high specific capacitance (∼480 F·g-1), unprecedented rate capability, and cycling stability (∼83% capacitance retention after 10,000 cycles). The PAni hydrogels can also function as the active component of glucose oxidase sensors with fast response time (∼0.3 s) and superior sensitivity (∼16.7 μA·mM-1). The scalable synthesis and excellent electrode performance of the PAni hydrogel make it an attractive candidate for bioelectronics and future-generation energy storage electrodes.

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Hierarchical nanostructured conducting polymer hydrogel with high electrochemical activity

The generation of polymer brushes by surface-initiated controlled radical polymerization (SI-CRP) techniques has become a powerful approach to tailor the chemical and physical properties of interfaces and has given rise to great advances in surface and interface engineering. Polymer brushes are defined as thin polymer films in which the individual polymer chains are tethered by one chain end to a solid interface. Significant advances have been made over the past years in the field of polymer brushes. This includes novel developments in SI-CRP, as well as the emergence of novel applications such as catalysis, electronics, nanomaterial synthesis and biosensing. Additionally, polymer brushes prepared via SI-CRP have been utilized to modify the surface of novel substrates such as natural fibers, polymer nanofibers, mesoporous materials, graphene, viruses and protein nanoparticles. The last years have also seen exciting advances in the chemical and physical characterization of polymer brushes, as well as an ev...

Surface-Initiated Controlled Radical Polymerization: State-of-the-Art, Opportunities, and Challenges in Surface and Interface Engineering with Polymer Brushes

The conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), and especially its complex with poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), is perhaps the most well-known example of an organic conductor. It is highly conductive, largely transmissive to light, processible in water, and highly flexible. Much recent work on this ubiquitous material has been devoted to increasing its deformability beyond flexibility-a characteristic possessed by any material that is sufficiently thin-toward stretchability, a characteristic that requires engineering of the structure at the molecular- or nanoscale. Stretchability is the enabling characteristic of a range of applications envisioned for PEDOT in energy and healthcare, such as wearable, implantable, and large-area electronic devices. High degrees of mechanical deformability allow intimate contact with biological tissues and solution-processable printing techniques (e.g., roll-to-roll printing). PEDOT:PSS, however, is only stretchable up to around 10%. Here, the strategies that have been reported to enhance the stretchability of conductive polymers and composites based on PEDOT and PEDOT:PSS are highlighted. These strategies include blending with plasticizers or polymers, deposition on elastomers, formation of fibers and gels, and the use of intrinsically stretchable scaffolds for the polymerization of PEDOT.

Stretchable Conductive Polymers and Composites Based on PEDOT and PEDOT:PSS.

The cell microenvironment has emerged as a key determinant of cell behavior and function in development, physiology, and pathophysiology. The extracellular matrix (ECM) within the cell microenvironment serves not only as a structural foundation for cells but also as a source of three-dimensional (3D) biochemical and biophysical cues that trigger and regulate cell behaviors. Increasing evidence suggests that the 3D character of the microenvironment is required for development of many critical cell responses observed in vivo, fueling a surge in the development of functional and biomimetic materials for engineering the 3D cell microenvironment. Progress in the design of such materials has improved control of cell behaviors in 3D and advanced the fields of tissue regeneration, in vitro tissue models, large-scale cell differentiation, immunotherapy, and gene therapy. However, the field is still in its infancy, and discoveries about the nature of cell–microenvironment interactions continue to overturn much earl...

Functional and Biomimetic Materials for Engineering of the Three-Dimensional Cell Microenvironment

Biodegradable and electrically conducting polymers for biomedical applications

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1468-6996/11/1/014107/pdf

Conducting polymer-hydrogels for medical electrode applications

A hybrid system for producing conducting polymers within a doping hydrogel mesh is presented. These conductive hydrogels demonstrate comparable electroactivity to conventional conducting polymers without requiring the need for mobile doping ions which are typically used in literature. These hybrids have superior mechanical stability and a modulus significantly closer to neural tissue than materials which are commonly used for medical electrodes. Additionally they are shown to support the attachment and differentiation of neural like cells, with improved interaction when compared to homogeneous hydrogels. The system provides flexibility such that biologic incorporation can be tailored for application.

Conductive Hydrogels: Mechanically Robust Hybrids for Use as Biomaterials

Conducting polymers have often been described in literature as a coating for metal electrodes which will dampen the mechanical mismatch with neural tissue, encouraging intimate cell interactions. However, there is very limited quantitative analysis of conducting polymer mechanics and the relation to tissue interactions. This article systematically analyses the impact of coating platinum (Pt) electrodes with the conducting polymer poly(ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT) doped with a series of common anions which have been explored for neural interfacing applications. Nanoindentation was used to determine the coating modulus and it was found that the polymer stiffness increased as the size of the dopant ion was increased, with PEDOT doped with polystyrene sulfonate (PSS) having the highest modulus at 3.2 GPa. This was more than double that of the ClO4 doped PEDOT at 1.3 GPa. Similarly, the electrical properties of these materials were shown to have a size dependent behavior with the smaller anions producing PEDOT films with the highest charge transfer capacity and lowest impedance. Coating stiffness was found to have a negligible effect on in vitro neural cell survival and differentiation, but rather polymer surface morphology, dopant toxicity and mobility is found to have the greatest impact.

Effects of dopants on the biomechanical properties of conducting polymer films on platinum electrodes

Nanofluids have been increasingly used in a wide range of thermal applications. Although these applications can benefit greatly from investigating the behavior of nanoparticles under different heating scenarios, there is a lack of experiments that can achieve this. To overcome this challenge, an optical “pump–probe”-type experiment is suggested in this paper. In experiments of this type, a set of “pumping” nanoparticles are specifically selected to absorb laser radiation. These particles represent a flexible tool for volumetric heating. A second set of “probing” nanoparticles can be tailored to scatter a separate optical probing signal. This work presents a selection procedure for nanoparticles of both types. The selection procedure is then demonstrated for a specific example where the pump and probe wavelengths are of 980 and 532 nm, respectively. Gold nanorods with diameters of 10 and a length of 58 nm are selected as the “most suitable” absorbing particles, while silver nanospheres with a diameter of 110 nm are selected as the “most suitable” scattering particles. These particles are synthesized and shown to experimentally match the desired optical properties. Overall, this paper proposes and demonstrates an approach by which it is possible to design and fabricate particles for a wide range of optical studies in semi-transparent nanofluids.

Plasmonic “pump–probe” method to study semi-transparent nanofluids

Bioelectrodes for neural recording and neurostimulation are an integral component of a number of neuroprosthetic devices, including the commercially available cochlear implant, and developmental devices, such as the bionic eye and brain–machine interfaces. Current electrode designs limit the application of such devices owing to suboptimal material properties that lead to minimal interaction with the target neural tissue and the formation of fibrotic capsules. In designing an ideal bioelectrode, a number of design criteria must be considered with respect to physical, mechanical, electrical and biological properties. Conducting polymers have the potential to address the synergistic interaction of these properties and show promise as superior coatings for next-generation electrodes in implant devices.

Sungchul Baek

Papers

Conducting polymer-hydrogels for medical electrode applications

Conductive Hydrogels: Mechanically Robust Hybrids for Use as Biomaterials

Effects of dopants on the biomechanical properties of conducting polymer films on platinum electrodes

Plasmonic “pump–probe” method to study semi-transparent nanofluids

Development of bioactive conducting polymers for neural interfaces.