[2023] Organic Electrochemical Transistors for Electrical Recordings of In Vitro Cell Cultures

Background: Organic electrochemical transistors (OECT)^[1] are electronic devices that use conducting polymers – for example PEDOT:PSS – in direct contact with cells. One of the key advantages of OECTs is their ability to operate in biological environment with high sensitivity at low voltages - typically below 0.5 V. This key advantage stems from the ability of conducting polymers to support ionic conduction, allowing for the uninterrupted exchange of ions between the biological system and electronic devices - ions are injected into the polymer film from the electrolyte solution upon a gate voltage.^[2] OECT technology has already proven beneficial for several bioelectronic applications, including biosensing (e.g. detection of glucose, ions and DNA),^[3] neural recordings/stimulation^[4] as well as in vitro cell monitoring, among others. For each of these applications the OECT operation can be fine-tuned by changing the conducting polymer thickness^[5] as well as the channel/gate dimensions and architecture of the transistor

Aim: development of OECT arrays based on PEDOT:PSS to monitoring electrically the growth and functionality of human cell cultures. By tuning the OECT channel and gate dimensions, thickness, and architecture the project aims to recording electrical signals related with cell activity.

Literature

[1]         J. Rivnay, S. Inal, A. Salleo, R. M. Owens, M. Berggren, G. G. Malliaras, Nat. Rev. Mater. 2018, 3, 17086.

[2]         A. Savva, R. Hallani, C. Cendra, J. Surgailis, T. C. Hidalgo, S. Wustoni, R. Sheelamanthula, X. Chen, M. Kirkus, A. Giovannitti, A. Salleo, I. McCulloch, S. Inal, Adv. Funct. Mater. 2020, 30, DOI 10.1002/adfm.201907657.

[3]         A. M. Pappa, D. Ohayon, A. Giovannitti, I. P. Maria, A. Savva, I. Uguz, J. Rivnay, I. McCulloch, R. M. Owens, S. Inal, Sci. Adv. 2018, 4, DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aat0911.

[4]         D. Khodagholy, T. Doublet, P. Quilichini, M. Gurfinkel, P. Leleux, A. Ghestem, E. Ismailova, T. Hervé, S. Sanaur, C. Bernard, G. G. Malliaras, Nat. Commun. 2013, 4, 1575.

[5]         J. Rivnay, P. Leleux, M. Ferro, M. Sessolo, A. Williamson, D. A. Koutsouras, D. Khodagholy, M. Ramuz, X. Strakosas, R. M. Owens, C. Benar, J.-M. Badier, C. Bernard, G. G. Malliaras, Sci. Adv. 2015, 1, e1400251.

Assignment

1^st part:  Literature review of organic electrochemical transistors based on PEDOT:PSS.

2^nd part: Design, fabrication and characterization of PEDOT:PSS-based organic electrochemical transistors with different channel and gate dimensions.  

Requirements

MSc students from Microelectronics, Biomedical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering. Interested students should contact Dr. Achilleas Savva (achilleas.savva@gmail.com), by including their CV, the list of courses attended, and a motivation letter.

Contact

Last modified: 2024-03-06