Authors: Shayan Louie, Qifeng Jiang, Duncan J. Wisniewski, Si Tong Bao, Honghu Zhang, Kaushik Chivukula, Qiyi Fang, Ashutosh Garudapalli, Scott R. Docherty, Fay Ng, Michael Steigerwald, Yu Zhong, Dion Khodagholy, Colin Nuckolls
Published: 2025-04-02
Source: Full article
Organic materials that conduct both electrons and ions are integral to implantable bioelectronics because of their conformable nature. There is a dearth of these materials that are highly sensitive to cations, which are the majority ions on the surface of neurons. This manuscript offers a solution using an extended ribbon structure that is defect-free, providing high electronic mobility along its fused backbone, while the edge structure of these ribbons promotes high ionic conductivity. We incorporated these mixed ion/electron conductors into neural probes and implanted them in a rodent brain where they offer a suite of useful properties: high cation sensitivity, stability over several weeks after implantation, and biocompatibility. These materials represent an innovative class of implantable biosensors.