Chemically revised conducting polymers with inflammation resistance for intimate bioelectronic electrocoupling

Sihao Qian; Hsing-An Lin; Qichao Pan; Shuhua Zhang; Yunhua Zhang; Zhi Geng; Qing Wu; Yong He; Bo Zhu

doi:10.1016/j.bioactmat.2023.02.010

Chemically revised conducting polymers with inflammation resistance for intimate bioelectronic electrocoupling

Bioact Mater. 2023 Feb 21:26:24-51. doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2023.02.010. eCollection 2023 Aug.

Authors

Sihao Qian^{1

2}, Hsing-An Lin², Qichao Pan², Shuhua Zhang², Yunhua Zhang², Zhi Geng², Qing Wu², Yong He³, Bo Zhu²

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering & Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Organ Repair, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China.
³ Innovation Center for Textile Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China.

Abstract

Conducting polymers offer attractive mixed ionic-electronic conductivity, tunable interfacial barrier with metal, tissue matchable softness, and versatile chemical functionalization, making them robust to bridge the gap between brain tissue and electronic circuits. This review focuses on chemically revised conducting polymers, combined with their superior and controllable electrochemical performance, to fabricate long-term bioelectronic implants, addressing chronic immune responses, weak neuron attraction, and long-term electrocommunication instability challenges. Moreover, the promising progress of zwitterionic conducting polymers in bioelectronic implants (≥4 weeks stable implantation) is highlighted, followed by a comment on their current evolution toward selective neural coupling and reimplantable function. Finally, a critical forward look at the future of zwitterionic conducting polymers for in vivo bioelectronic devices is provided.

Keywords: Antifouling; Bioelectronic; Conducting polymer; Inflammation resistance; Zwitterion.

Publication types

Review