How can combining hydrogels and semiconductors enhance bioelectronics? This is what a recent study published in Science hopes to address as a team of more than two dozen researchers led by the University of Chicago (UChicago) have developed a novel hydrogel that incorporates semiconductor properties capable of providing enhanced levels of agility and efficiency compared to present bioelectronics like biosensors and drug delivery devices. This study holds the potential to help millions of people who use bioelectronics as part of their daily lives and improve their quality of life, as well.
“When making implantable bioelectronic devices, one challenge you must address is to make a device with tissue-like mechanical properties,” said Yahao Dai, who is a PhD student in molecular engineering at UChicago and lead author of the study. “That way, when it gets directly interfaced with the tissue, they can deform together and also form a very intimate bio-interface.”
For the study, the researchers successfully built upon existing hydrogels by combining them with semiconductors properties. This is because while hydrogels work well in water, semiconductors do not, but the researchers created a hydrogel with semiconductor properties that provide advanced levels of electrical current and flexibility. This new blue-colored hydrogel semiconductor has already been patented and holds the potential to improve bioelectronics for patients needing pacemakers and biosensors.
“It has very soft mechanical properties and a large degree of hydration similar to living tissue,” said Dr. Sihong Wang, who is an assistant professor of molecular engineering at UChicago and a co-author on the study. “Hydrogel is also very porous, so it allows the efficient diffusion transport of different kinds of nutrition and chemicals. All these traits combine to make hydrogel probably the most useful material for tissue engineering and drug delivery.”
This study comes as the bioelectronic market is projected to triple between now and 2029 from $20 billion to $60 billion and includes applications like chronic pain, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and spinal cord stimulation.
How will this hydrogel help improve bioelectronics in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Science, EurekAlert!, University of Chicago, News-Medical, Bioelectronic Medicine