Electrochemical and Electrical Biosensors for Wearable and Implantable Electronics Based on Conducting Polymers and Carbon-Based Materials

Abstract

Bioelectronic devices are designed to translate biological information into electrical signals and vice versa, thereby bridging the gap between the living biological world and electronic systems. Among different types of bioelectronics devices, wearable and implantable biosensors are particularly important as they offer access to the physiological and biochemical activities of tissues and organs, which is significant in diagnosing and researching various medical conditions. Organic conducting and semiconducting materials, including conducting polymers (CPs) and graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), are some of the most promising candidates for wearable and implantable biosensors. Their unique electrical, electrochemical, and mechanical properties bring new possibilities to bioelectronics that could not be realized by utilizing metals-or silicon-based analogues. The use of organic-and carbon-based conductors in the development of wearable and implantable biosensors has emerged as a rapidly growing research field, with remarkable progress being made in recent years. The use of such materials addresses the issue of mismatched properties between biological tissues and electronic devices, as well as the improvement in the accuracy and fidelity of the transferred information. In this review, we highlight the most recent advances in this field and provide insights into organic and carbon-based (semi)conducting materials' properties and relate these to their applications in wearable/implantable biosensors. We also provide a perspective on the promising potential and exciting future developments of wearable/implantable biosensors.

Anthranilic Acid: A Versatile Monomer for the Design of Functional Conducting Polymer Composites

“…Research into intrinsically conducting polymers (ICPs), first established by the pioneering work of Shirakawa, MacDiarmid, and Heeger in 1977 [1], has intensified in recent times, with polyacetylene being eclipsed by a spectrum of new conjugated systems [2][3][4][5][6][7]. Polypyrrole, polythiophene, polyaniline, and their associated derivatives are the more common of the new variants and are among the few that are stable enough, under normal processing conditions, to be considered for use in a wide range of applications ranging from energy generation and storage to environmental remediation [2][3][4][5][6][7]. There has been a tremendous increase in the production and characterization of these polymers, leading to an extensive library of systems with unique electrical and optical properties.…”