Connecting Nature with Organic Bioelectronics and Printed Electronics

Magnus Berggren, Department of Science and Technology, Linköping University (Sweden)

Organic electronic materials are unique as the signal translator across the biology-technology gap. These biocompatible materials are also easily complexed with polyanions, polycations and functional biomaterials and can then be included in various device architectures to form flexible, stretchable and even gelled devices. Organic bioelectronic devices and systems can then process electronic, ionic and charged biomolecules in combination. These combined features make organic electronic materials unique in many aspects as the recorder and actuator of various functions and physiology of biological systems.

A brief review of some of the recent achievements from the Laboratory of Organic Electronics is here given. In the BioComLab technology platform various organic bioelectronic sensors and actuators are combined with communication technology to form a body area network for future healthcare applications. Various sensors are included within electronic skin patches, then connected to electronic drug delivery components via capacitive body-coupled communication. This system provides sensor-actuator feedback and improves its decision-making performance using deep-learning protocols provided from cloud connectivity. With the BioComLab platform we target an array of neuronal disorders and diseases, such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and chronical pain. The BioComLab technology is also explored to regulate functions and physiology of plants, in an effort termed e-Plants. Some of the recent results of using organic bioelectronics to sense and actuate plant physiology is here also presented.

At the end of the talk a few recent results are reported, including electronic gelling achieved in ethylene glycol-substituted polythiophenes and ground state charge transfer established in donor- acceptor all-polymer combinations.