A research team led by Professors Myung-Han Yoon and Kwaghee Lee has developed high-performance polymer electrodes capable of stimulating the heart and recording heartbeats
A research team led by Professors Myung-Han Yoon and Kwaghee Lee has developed high-performance polymer electrodes capable of stimulating the heart and recording heartbeats
□ A research team led by Professors Hyung-Han Yoon and Kwaghee Lee at the School of Material Science and Engineering at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST, President Seung Hyeon Moon) has developed high-performance polymer electrodes capable of cardiac electrical stimulation and recording.
∘ The results of this research showed that organic-based bio-electrodes have difficulty in ensuring the stability of vulnerable substances. A new material engineering approach for the development of high performance organic bioelectronics * dramatically improved the performance compared to conventional electrodes, increasing the possibility of new devices such as neural prosthesis **.
* A field of bioelectronic devices based on polymers or monomolecules that converts ion-based electrical signals in the body into electronic signals and that can induce electrical signals in the body.
** Technology that improves physical ability by replicating artificial hand, eyes, skin, nerve, etc., and can improve or replace central nervous system functions by implanting a neural prosthesis into the body to replace organs damaged by disease or injury.
∘ An organic bioelectrode is engineered to have effective electrical stimulation and high signal-to-noise ratio * bio-signal acquisition potential. However, it is difficult to fabricate large and flexible organic bioelectrode devices.
* One of the indicators to check the performance of the signal detection system by measuring the strength of the signal power versus the noise of the acquired signal.
□ The GIST research team developed a high performance, high stable conductive polymer electrode by solution process and succeeded in obtaining low voltage electrical stimulation of myocardial cells and cell activity potential with high signal to noise ratio.
∘ The team improved the electrical conductivity and electrochemical activity of the bioelectrode by aligning the polymer mixture PEDOT: PSS through solvent-assisted crytstallization *. Furthermore, the electrode showed a high electric conductivity of ~ 2000 S / cm even after 21 days of immersion. In addition, the in vitro culture experiment showed that the cells showed high biocompatibility without any difference in cell viability compared with the control group.
* Solution-mediated crystallization is a method of inducing crystallization by immersing the film in a solvent capable of self-crystallizing PEDOT: PSS.
∘ Because of the excellent electrical and electrochemical performance of this electrode, is possible to control the number of beats of myocardial cells cultured directly on the electrode surface by low voltage electric stimulation of less than 1V. The action potential generated from myocardial cells can be detected with high signal to noise ratio (SNR).
□ Professors Myung-Han Yoon said, "High performance and high stability conductive polymer development technology, which is the core material of organic bioelectrodes, which is recognized as the most promising technology in the development of next generation biomedical devices, is of the greatest interest in organic electronic devices and biomedical fields. It is expected that the crystalline conductive polymer manufacturing technology presented in this study can increase the stability and performance of polymers through a simple method that can be applied to the design of heart stimulation and signal acquisition in the future.
□ This research, led by Professor Myung-Han Yoon and Professor Kwaghee Lee, was funded National Research Foundation of Korea and was published online of NPG Asia Materials on April 16, 2018.
