PEDOT:PSS Fibre Building Blocks for Adaptive and Sustainable Bioelectronic Structures

Bioelectronics facilitate information exchange by signal transfer and transductions between living biological systems and artificial electronic systems, as a critical infrastructure in various bio-related research and industries. Fibre is a bioelectronic device format that may embody the building block functionality, by hierarchically assembling functional fibre structures with vast design possibilities across a wide range of sizes, achieving enhanced bio-integration, functional performance, and sustainability. Modern bioelectronic fibres were reviewed by fabrication methods, lifecycle sustainability, adaptabilities, and system hierarchies; the author found gaps and avenues for further development: reversible fibre assembly for repair and upgrade; spider web-like biomimetic construction; down-scale fibre coating process for reduced wastage and improved control. They were arranged into experimental research projects based on a primary material poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate. The first study was based on the “orbital printing” that deploys imperceptible bioelectronic fibres on living surfaces in a substrate-free direct-write manner at sub-mN deposition force and at miniscule material and power costs, resembling spider webs. The author studied functional circuit construction and multi-modal sensing capabilities of these fibres, then developed a fibre structure framework to biomorphically augment living surfaces, which supports in-situ repair and upgrades by wipe-and-rewrite for adapting to continuous changes in the biological surfaces and/or application demands. The second study was developing a liquid drop coating technique for functionalising thermoplastic microfibre core, which achieved μL-level downscaled coating solution batch sizes and sub-mm multi-layer coating length control for improved customisability at low power. The produced fibres are individually handleable, embodying multimodal sensing and electrical stimulation functionalities tested in artificial biological tissue models and ex vivo tissues. They were assembled into a novel non-bonded and non-interlocked fibre structure that enables spatiotemporal sensing while allowing individual fibre-level repair and upgrade. These fibre technologies demonstrated a new paradigm of bio-interface electronics based on versatile assemblies of fibre elements that are sustainable and functionally adaptive, which could inspire the development of novel bioelectronics following the same building block principles with expanded ranges of functionalities and applications.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Pan, Yifei

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Huang, Shery

• bioelectronics
• biointerface
• fibre
• life cycle sustainability
• PEDOT:PSS

Licence

• https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/7c001376-5acf-4bab-82c4-59f44f8f805f/download
• https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/

Language dc:language

eng

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.111341

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/372476