Optimization of a Planar All‐Polymer Transistor for Characterization of Barrier Tissue

Abstract

The organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) is a unique device that shows great promise for sensing in biomedical applications such as monitoring of the integrity of epithelial tissue. It is a label-free sensor that is amenable to low-cost production by roll-to-roll or other printing technologies. Herein, the optimization of a planar OECT for the characterization of barrier tissue is presented. Evaluation of surface coating, gate biocompatibility and performance, and optimization of the geometry of the transistor are highlighted. The conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate), which is used as the active material in the transistor, has the added advantage of allowing significant light transmission compared to traditional electrode materials and thus permits high-quality optical microscopy. The combination of optical and electronic monitoring of cells shown herein provides the opportunity to couple two very complementary techniques to yield a low-cost method for in vitro cell sensing.

Transistor in a tube: A route to three-dimensional bioelectronics

“…Considering the high surface-to-volume ratio of the scaffolds, we posit that the gating of the 3D porous transistors by the electrolyte is more challenging compared to planar OECTs. The choice of gate electrode is thus crucial, and a good balance must be found between biocompatibility and gating efficiency ( 35 ). For the characterization of the tubistors, a nonpolarizable electrode such as Ag/AgCl was used, as the voltage drop at the gate electrode/electrolyte is minimal.…”

Optical Measurements Revealing Nonuniform Hole Mobility in Organic Electrochemical Transistors

“…It can be shown (see the Supporting Information) that the transconductance, increases monotonically as the drain voltage is made more negative, up to the saturation voltage. Because many OECT‐based sensing platforms use a fixed drain voltage, the signal to noise ratio can be optimized by tuning the drain voltage. Setting the drain voltage at V D = V D,sat maximizes the transconductance while minimizing bias stress on the device and damage to any biological systems being measured .…”

Interfacing cells with organic transistors: a review ofin vitroandin vivoapplications

“…The already discussed advantages of planar OECTs made of optically transparent active materials opened up interesting applications in the field of in vitro cell monitoring. As demonstrated by Ramuz et al, 73 it is in fact possible to correlate optical and electrical data in order to get unprecedented insights into the early stage of tissue formation and to dynamically monitor the tissue's health condition. Thanks to their more compact form factor (i.e.…”