Novel highly stable conductive polymer composite PEDOT:DBSA for bioelectronic applications

In this work, a novel conductive polymer composite PEDOT:DBSA for bioelectronic applications was prepared and optimized. The novel PEDOT:DBSA composite possesses superior biocompatibility toward cell culture and electrical characteristics comparable to the widely used PEDOT:PSS. The cross-linking processes induced by the cross-linker GOPS, which was investigating in detail using Fourier transform Raman spectroscopy and XPS analysis, lead to the excellent long-term stability of PEDOT:DBSA thin films in aqueous solutions, even without treatment at high temperature. The electrical characteristics of PEDOT:DBSA thin films with respect to the level of cross-linking were studied in detail. The conductivity of thin films was significantly improved using sulfuric acid posttreatment. A model transistor devicebased on PEDOT:DBSA shows typical transistor behavior and suitable electrical properties comparable or superior to those of avaible conductive polymers in bioelectronics, such as PEDOT:PSS. Based on these properties, the newly developed material is well suitable for bioelectronic applications that require long-term contact with living organisms, such as wearable or implantable bioelectronics.

Keywords

cross-link, electrical conductivity, living cells, organic bioelectronics, organic semiconductors, PEDOT:DBSA

Citation

POLYMER JOURNAL. 2023, vol. 55, issue 9, p. 983-995.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41428-023-00784-7

Document type

Peer-reviewed

Document version

Published version

Language of document

en

Document licence

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/