Protein-Based Bioelectronics

Abstract

The desire for flexible electronics is booming, and development of bioelectronics for health monitoring, internal body procedures, and other biomedical applications is heavily responsible for the growing market. Most current fabrication techniques for flexible bioelectronics, however, do not use materials that optimize both biocompatibility and mechanical properties. This review explores flexible electronic technologies, fabrication methods, and protein materials for biomedical applications. With favorable sustainability and biocompatibility, naturally-derived proteins are an exceptional alternative to synthetic materials currently used. Many proteins can take on various forms, such as fibers, films, and scaffolds. The fabrication of resistors and organic solar cells on silk has already been proven, and optoelectronics made of collagen and keratin have also been explored. The flexibility and biocompatibility of these materials along with their proven performance in electronics make them ideal materials in the advancement of biomedical devices.

When Fluorescent Proteins Meet White Light‐Emitting Diodes

“…[87] Second, use of FPs in lighting applications is conditioned to maintaining their structural and spectral characteristics stable over time,ideally providing al ong device lifetime.I nt his respect, aqueous solutions of FPs and/or dried films are not the best choice for their integration in lighting or electronic devices.T herefore, other matrices have to be used that keep the native structure of the FPs over time.T he selection of at ype matrix for immobilization of proteins in general, and FPs in particular, requires consideration of the affinity for the protein, availability of reactive functional groups,m echanical stability, rigidity,a nd biocompatibility. [88] Twot echniques for immobilization have been used, namely direct adsorption and entrapment in the matrix. In both cases,the protein immobilization relies on reversible physical adsorption (mediated by weak interactions,s uch as hydrogen bonds,h ydrophobic interactions,v an der Waals forces,o rm echanical containment) or on irreversible chemical crosslinking through covalent interactions between groups attached on the protein surface and the matrix.…”

Reduced Graphene Oxide Coated Silk Fabrics with Conductive Property for Wearable Electronic Textiles Application

“…SF, a natural protein fiber mainly consisting of alanine, glycine, and serine offers new opportunities for wearable electronic textiles by virtue of their biocompatibility and sustainability, as well as their easy source. Moreover, SF possesses ideal mechanical, flexible, and wearable properties which are considered as a superior support for wearable devices and has advantages toward next‐generation biocompatible electronic devices …”

Programmable Vanishing Multifunctional Optics

“…[1][2][3][4][5] However, the incompatibility of these materials with MC-DOEs carry out richer information for more practical applications such as encryption and decryption of multilevel information, quantitative sensing/monitoring of chemical/biological cascade reactions, and effective treatment of infections caused by multiple pathogens. Various degradable polymers-including naturally extracted and synthetic ones such as proteins, polysaccharides, polycaprolactone (PCL), polyglycolic acid (PGA), and polylactic acid (PLA)-have been explored as the substrates and encapsulating materials that can dissolve in the body or the environment in a controlled fashion.…”