Scientific Frontiers of Polymer and Hydrogel Semiconductors for Bioelectronics
Contents
Host(s)
Prof. YongAn Huang
School of Mechanical Science & Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Prof. YongAn Huang is a recipient of the National Excellent Youth Fund and works at the School of Mechanical Science and Engineering as well as the State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing Equipment and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He established the Flexible Electronics Manufacturing Team, which focuses on wearable electronics, smart skins for aircraft, and electronic skins for robots. His team also conducts research on manufacturing processes and equipment, including high-precision printing, laser transfer printing, and conformal manufacturing.
Dr. Ke Li
School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Dr. Ke Li is a Research Fellow in the team of Professor Valeria Nicolosi at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. His research focuses on flexible materials and the mechanisms of electrochemical energy storage. To date, he has published 19 SCI papers as the first or corresponding author (including co-authorship) in journals such as Nature Reviews Materials and Nature Communications, with a total citation count exceeding 3,300. He has received several prestigious awards, including the Horizon Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Guanghua Scholarship, among others.
Speaker(s)
Prof. Sihong Wang
Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, IL, USA
Topic: Polymer and Hydrogel Semiconductor Biointerfaces
Topic: Polymer and Hydrogel Semiconductor Biointerfaces
Biography
Prof. Sihong Wang's research focuses on developing biomimetic polymer electronics and bio-energy harvesting technologies for wearable and implantable devices, aimed at enabling continuous, efficient, and long-term stable health data acquisition and processing. His group specializes in four key areas: human-interfaced biosensors, immune-compatible electronic polymers and devices, stretchable optoelectronics, and neuromorphic computing for artificial intelligence. Prof. Wang has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed papers in prestigious journals, including Science, Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Electronics, Nature Sustainability, Nature Communications, Science Advances, etc., garnering over 28,100 citations and achieving a Google Scholar H-index of 66. He is also a named inventor on 12 US patents. His outstanding contributions have been recognized with numerous accolades, including being named a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics (2020-2024), a recipient of the MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35 (TR35, Global List, 2020), the iCANX Young Scientist Award (2021), Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator Award, the Advanced Materials Rising Star Award (2022), the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (2022), the NSF CAREER Award (2022), the ACS PMSE Young Investigator Award (2023), and a Fellow of the International Association of Advanced Materials (2023).
Abstract
The vast amount of biological mysteries and biomedical challenges faced by humans provide a prominent drive for seamlessly merging electronics with biological living systems (e.g. human bodies) to achieve long-term stable functions. Towards this trend, one of the key requirements for electronics is to possess biomimetic form factors in various aspects for achieving diverse functions and long-term stability. To enable such paradigm-shifting requirements, polymer-based electronics are uniquely promising for combining advanced electronic functionalities with biomimetic properties. In this talk, I will introduce our design concepts for semiconducting polymers, which enable the incorporation of various biomimetic properties. First, I will introduce a new design strategy for introducing bioadhesive properties to redox-active semiconducting polymers, so as to enable intimate and stable interfacing of transistor-based biosensors with tissue surfaces. Second, to solve the issue of immune reactions and foreign-body responses to implantable bioelectronics, I will discuss our recent exploration of studying and developing immune-compatible and ultrasoft hydrogel designs for polymer semiconductors and conductors. Finally, I will show our design of stretchable light-emitting polymers with high quantum efficiency, which is enabled by the use of thermally activated delayed fluorescence. Collectively, our research is opening up a new generation of electronic materials that fundamentally change the way that humans interact with electronics.
Prof. Sihong Wang's research focuses on developing biomimetic polymer electronics and bio-energy harvesting technologies for wearable and implantable devices, aimed at enabling continuous, efficient, and long-term stable health data acquisition and processing. His group specializes in four key areas: human-interfaced biosensors, immune-compatible electronic polymers and devices, stretchable optoelectronics, and neuromorphic computing for artificial intelligence. Prof. Wang has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed papers in prestigious journals, including Science, Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Electronics, Nature Sustainability, Nature Communications, Science Advances, etc., garnering over 28,100 citations and achieving a Google Scholar H-index of 66. He is also a named inventor on 12 US patents. His outstanding contributions have been recognized with numerous accolades, including being named a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics (2020-2024), a recipient of the MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35 (TR35, Global List, 2020), the iCANX Young Scientist Award (2021), Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator Award, the Advanced Materials Rising Star Award (2022), the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (2022), the NSF CAREER Award (2022), the ACS PMSE Young Investigator Award (2023), and a Fellow of the International Association of Advanced Materials (2023).
Abstract
The vast amount of biological mysteries and biomedical challenges faced by humans provide a prominent drive for seamlessly merging electronics with biological living systems (e.g. human bodies) to achieve long-term stable functions. Towards this trend, one of the key requirements for electronics is to possess biomimetic form factors in various aspects for achieving diverse functions and long-term stability. To enable such paradigm-shifting requirements, polymer-based electronics are uniquely promising for combining advanced electronic functionalities with biomimetic properties. In this talk, I will introduce our design concepts for semiconducting polymers, which enable the incorporation of various biomimetic properties. First, I will introduce a new design strategy for introducing bioadhesive properties to redox-active semiconducting polymers, so as to enable intimate and stable interfacing of transistor-based biosensors with tissue surfaces. Second, to solve the issue of immune reactions and foreign-body responses to implantable bioelectronics, I will discuss our recent exploration of studying and developing immune-compatible and ultrasoft hydrogel designs for polymer semiconductors and conductors. Finally, I will show our design of stretchable light-emitting polymers with high quantum efficiency, which is enabled by the use of thermally activated delayed fluorescence. Collectively, our research is opening up a new generation of electronic materials that fundamentally change the way that humans interact with electronics.
Prof. Ting Lei
Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China
Topic: Semiconducting Hydrogels for Bioelectronics
Topic: Semiconducting Hydrogels for Bioelectronics
Biography
Prof. Ting Lei, a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and a nationally recognized high-level overseas talent, is dedicated to advancing novel organic polymer functional materials for applications in flexible electronics, biomedical devices, and energy conversion devices. With over 80 published papers in internationally renowned journals such as Science, Science Advances, and Nature Communications, his work garnered more than 15,000 citations. Dr. Lei has received numerous awards, including the China Chemical Society Youth Chemistry Award (2023), Beijing Outstanding Youth Fund (2022), China Chemical Society Polymer Youth Scholar Award (2021), and the China Chemical Society "Jingqing Chemistry New Talent Award" (2020).
Abstract
Bioelectronics have broad applications in medical treatment, wearable, and implantable devices. The mismatch in the interface's mechanical and chemical/biological properties between conventional bioelectronics and tissues is an important restriction for their practical applications. Hydrogels have the most similar mechanical properties to biological tissues. Therefore, if hydrogels can be used to construct electronics, it could meet the corresponding needs. In addition, the excellent biocompatibility and easy modification of hydrogels will also provide new biological functions for bioelectronics. Traditional hydrogels only have ionic conductivity, or have electronic conductivity properties through introducing blended conductors, but they still lack semiconducting properties. Based on cationic conjugated polymer design, we recently demonstrated a new kind of material, “semiconducting hydrogel”. By cross-linking a water-soluble cationic conjugated polymer with counterions or forming a multiple network structure with other hydrogels, semiconducting hydrogels with excellent biocompatibility and bioadhesion have been realized. These hydrogels showed good electron mobilities and high on/off ratios, enabling the fabrication of complementary logic circuits and signal amplifiers with low power consumption and high gains. We demonstrated that hydrogel electronics can sense and amplify electrophysiological signals with enhanced signal-to-noise ratios.
Prof. Ting Lei, a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and a nationally recognized high-level overseas talent, is dedicated to advancing novel organic polymer functional materials for applications in flexible electronics, biomedical devices, and energy conversion devices. With over 80 published papers in internationally renowned journals such as Science, Science Advances, and Nature Communications, his work garnered more than 15,000 citations. Dr. Lei has received numerous awards, including the China Chemical Society Youth Chemistry Award (2023), Beijing Outstanding Youth Fund (2022), China Chemical Society Polymer Youth Scholar Award (2021), and the China Chemical Society "Jingqing Chemistry New Talent Award" (2020).
Abstract
Bioelectronics have broad applications in medical treatment, wearable, and implantable devices. The mismatch in the interface's mechanical and chemical/biological properties between conventional bioelectronics and tissues is an important restriction for their practical applications. Hydrogels have the most similar mechanical properties to biological tissues. Therefore, if hydrogels can be used to construct electronics, it could meet the corresponding needs. In addition, the excellent biocompatibility and easy modification of hydrogels will also provide new biological functions for bioelectronics. Traditional hydrogels only have ionic conductivity, or have electronic conductivity properties through introducing blended conductors, but they still lack semiconducting properties. Based on cationic conjugated polymer design, we recently demonstrated a new kind of material, “semiconducting hydrogel”. By cross-linking a water-soluble cationic conjugated polymer with counterions or forming a multiple network structure with other hydrogels, semiconducting hydrogels with excellent biocompatibility and bioadhesion have been realized. These hydrogels showed good electron mobilities and high on/off ratios, enabling the fabrication of complementary logic circuits and signal amplifiers with low power consumption and high gains. We demonstrated that hydrogel electronics can sense and amplify electrophysiological signals with enhanced signal-to-noise ratios.
