Title
Highly Conductive Tissue-like Hydrogel Interface through Template-Directed Assembly
Author
Chong, Jooyeun, Changhoon Sung, Kum Seok Nam, Taewon Kang, Hyunjun Kim, Haeseung Lee, Hyunchang Park, Seongjun Park, and Jiheong Kang
Year
2023
Journal
Nature Communications
Abstract
Over the past decade, conductive hydrogels have received great attention as tissue-interfacing electrodes due to their soft and tissue-like mechanical properties. However, a trade-off between robust tissue-like mechanical properties and good electrical properties has prevented the fabrication of a tough, highly conductive hydrogel and limited its use in bioelectronics. Here, we report a synthetic method for the realization of highly conductive and mechanically tough hydrogels with tissue-like modulus. We employed a template-directed assembly method, enabling the arrangement of a disorder-free, highly-conductive nanofibrous conductive network inside a highly stretchable, hydrated network. The resultant hydrogel exhibits ideal electrical and mechanical properties as a tissue-interfacing material. Furthermore, it can provide tough adhesion (800 J/m2) with diverse dynamic wet tissue after chemical activation. This hydrogel enables suture-free and adhesive-free, high-performance hydrogel bioelectronics. We successfully demonstrated ultra-low voltage neuromodulation and high-quality epicardial electrocardiogram (ECG) signal recording based on in vivo animal models. This template-directed assembly method provides a platform for hydrogel interfaces for various bioelectronic applications.
Full Article
Instrument
V-770
Keywords
bioelectronics