The effect of pH on polymerization and volume change in PPy(DBS)

Simultaneous Sensing and Actuating Capabilities of a Triple-Layer Biomimetic Muscle for Soft Robotics

This work presents the fabrication and characterization of a triple-layered biomimetic muscle constituted by polypyrrole (PPy)-dodecylbenzenesulfonate (DBS)/adhesive tape/PPy-DBS demonstrating simultaneous sensing and actuation capabilities. The muscle was controlled by a neurobiologically inspired cortical neural network sending agonist and antagonist signals to the conducting polymeric layers. Experiments consisted of controlled voluntary movements of the free end of the muscle at angles of ±20°, ±30°, and ±40° while monitoring the muscle's potential response. Results show the muscle's potential varies linearly with applied current amplitude during actuation, enabling current sensing. A linear dependence between muscle potential and temperature enabled temperature sensing. Electrolyte concentration changes also induced exponential variations in the muscle's potential, allowing for concentration sensing. Additionally, the influence of the electric current density on the angular velocity, the electric charge density, and the desired angle was studied. Overall, the conducting polymer-based soft biomimetic muscle replicates properties of natural muscles, permitting simultaneous motion control, current, temperature, and concentration sensing. The integrated neural control system exhibits key features of biological motion regulation. This muscle actuator with its integrated sensing and control represents an advance for soft robotics, prosthetics, and biomedical devices requiring biomimetic multifunctionality.

Monitoring of alcohol-based hand rubs in SARS-CoV-2 prevention by HS-GC/MS and electrochemical biosensor: A survey of commercial samples

Alcohol-based hand rubs (ABHRs) have found large diffusion during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2, thus becoming the most widespread means for hand hygiene. Whereby, it is fundamental to assess the alignment of commercial ABHRs to the indications provided by the principal health agencies regarding alcohol content and possible impurities. In this work, a novel improvement of previous existent methods for the determination of alcohol content in such products was reported. In particular, two alternative sensitive and reproducible methods, such as an electrochemical screen-printed based enzymatic (alcohol oxidase) biosensor and a Headspace Gas Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry (HS-GC/MS) were proposed. The electrochemical device represents a rapid, low-cost and accurate fraud screening method for alcohol-based hand rubs. The second technique confirms, identifies and simultaneously determines ethyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, n-propyl alcohol and methyl alcohol, improving their extraction through acidification in the sample pre-treatment step. The developed specific HS-GC/MS method was in-house validated according to ISO/IEC 17025 requirements. Analytical parameters such as limit of detection (LoD 0.13%v/v - 0.17%v/v), limit of quantification (LoQ 0.44% v/v - 0.57% v/v), inter-day repeatability (RSD_R 2.1–10.7%) and recovery (80–110%) were assessed. The relative expanded uncertainties range (between 0.1%v/v and 3.4%v/v) for all the analytes were evaluated. Results obtained using the different analytical approaches were compared and indicated that the two data sets were comparable (median; HS-GC/MS, 56%v/v; electrochemical biosensor, 62%v/v) and were not statistically different (one-way ANOVA test; p = 0.062). In addition, a good correlation (95%) was found. This study noticed that only 39% of the tested hand sanitiser products had the recommended average alcohol content, thus highlighting the need for analytical controls on this type of products.

Artificial Muscles Powered by Glucose

Untethered actuation is important for robotic devices to achieve autonomous motion, which is typically enabled by using batteries. Using enzymes to provide the required electrical charge is particularly interesting as it will enable direct harvesting of fuel components from a surrounding fluid. Here, a soft artificial muscle is presented, which uses the biofuel glucose in the presence of oxygen. Glucose oxidase and laccase enzymes integrated in the actuator catalytically convert glucose and oxygen into electrical power that in turn is converted into movement by the electroactive polymer polypyrrole causing the actuator to bend. The integrated bioelectrode pair shows a maximum open-circuit voltage of 0.70 ± 0.04 V at room temperature and a maximum power density of 0.27 µW cm^-2 at 0.50 V, sufficient to drive an external polypyrrole-based trilayer artificial muscle. Next, the enzymes are fully integrated into the artificial muscle, resulting in an autonomously powered actuator that can bend reversibly in both directions driven by glucose and O₂ only. This autonomously powered artificial muscle can be of great interest for soft (micro-)robotics and implantable or ingestible medical devices manoeuvring throughout the body, for devices in regenerative medicine, wearables, and environmental monitoring devices operating autonomously in aqueous environments.

Polypyrrole Actuator Based on Electrospun Microribbons

The development of soft actuators by using inexpensive raw materials and straightforward fabrication techniques, aiming at creating and developing muscle like micromanipulators, represents an important challenge nowadays. Providing such devices with biomimetic qualities, for example, sensing different external stimuli, adds even more complexity to the task. We developed electroactive polymer-coated microribbons that undergo conformational changes in response to external physical and chemical parameters. These were prepared following three simple steps. During the first step nylon-6/6 microribbons were fabricated by electrospinning. In a second step the microribbons were one side coated with a metallic layer. Finally, a conducting layer of polypyrrole was added by means of electrochemical deposition. Strips of polypyrrole-coated aligned microribbon meshes were tested as actuators responding to current, pH, and temperature. The electrochemical activity of the microstructured actuators was investigated by recording cyclic voltammograms. Chronopontentiograms for specific current, pH, and temperature values were obtained in electrolytes with different compositions. It was shown that, upon variation of the external stimulus, the actuator undergoes conformational changes due to the reduction processes of the polypyrrole layer. The ability of the actuator to hold and release thin wires, and to collect polystyrene microspheres from the bottom of the electrochemical cell, was also investigated.

Controlling the electro-mechanical performance of polypyrrole through 3- and 3,4-methyl substituted copolymers

A unique study of the impact of crosslinking on the electro-mechanical performance of electropolymerised polypyrrole films using laser-scanning micrometry.

Characterization of conjugated polymer actuation under cerebral physiological conditions

Conjugated polymer actuators have potential use in implantable neural interface devices for modulating the position of electrode sites within brain tissue or guiding insertion of neural probes along curved trajectories. The actuation of polypyrrole (PPy) doped with dodecylbenzenesulfonate (DBS) is characterized to ascertain whether it can be employed in the cerebral environment. Microfabricated bilayer beams are electrochemically cycled at either 22 or 37 °C in aqueous NaDBS or in artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF). Nearly all the ions in aCSF are exchanged into the PPy-the cations Na(+) , K(+) , Mg(2+) , Ca(2+) , as well as the anion PO4 (3-) ; Cl(-) is not present. Nevertheless, deflections in aCSF are comparable to those in NaDBS and they are monotonic with oxidation level: strain increases upon reduction, with no reversal of motion despite the mixture of ionic charges and valences being exchanged. Actuation depends on temperature. Upon warming, the cyclic voltammograms show additional peaks and an increase of 70% in the consumed charge. Bending is, however, much less affected: strain increases somewhat (6%-13%) but remains monotonic, and deflections shift (up to 20%). These results show how the actuation environment must be taken into account, and demonstrate proof of concept for actuated implantable neural interfaces.

Effect of the electrolyte concentration and substrate on conducting polymer actuators

The effect of the electrolyte concentration (NaCl aqueous electrolyte) on the dimensional variations of films of polypyrrole doped with dodecylbenzenesulfonate PPy(DBS) on Pt and Au wires was studied. Any parallel reaction that occurs during the redox polymeric reaction that drives the mechanical actuation, as detected from the coulovoltammetric responses, was avoided by using Pt wires as substrate and controlling the potential limits, thus significantly increasing the actuator lifetime. The NaCl concentration of the electrolyte, when studied by cyclic voltammetry or chronoamperometry, has a strong effect on the performance as well. A maximum expansion was achieved in 0.3 M aqueous solution. The consumed oxidation and reduction charges control the fully reversible dimensional variations: PPy(DBS) films are faradaic polymeric motors. Parallel to the faradaic exchange of the cations, osmotic, electrophoretic, and structural changes play an important role for the water exchange and volume change of PPy(DBS).

Exchanged cations and water during reactions in polypyrrole macroions from artificial muscles

The movement of the bilayer (polypyrrole-dodecylbenzenesulfonate/tape) during artificial muscle bending under flow of current square waves was studied in aqueous solutions of chloride salts. During current flow, polypyrrole redox reactions result in variations in the volumes of the films and macroscopic bending: swelling by reduction with expulsion of cations and shrinking by oxidation with the insertion of cations. The described angles follow a linear function, different in each of the studied salts, of the consumed charge: they are faradaic polymeric muscles. The linearity indicates that cations are the only exchanged ions in the studied potential range. By flow of the same specific charge in every electrolyte, different angles were described by the muscle. The charge and the angle allow the number and volume of both the exchanged cations and the water molecules (related to a reference) between the film to be determined, in addition to the electrolyte per unit of charge during the driving reaction. The attained apparent solvation numbers for the exchanged cations were: 0.8, 0.7, 0.6, 0.5, 0.5, 0.4, 0.25, and 0.0 for Na(+), Mg(2+), La(3+), Li(+), Ca(2+), K(+), Rb(+), and Cs(+), respectively.

Redox cycling for passive modification of polypyrrole surface properties: effects on cell adhesion and proliferation

The surface properties of electrodeposited poly(pyrrole) (Ppy) doped with sodium dodecylbenzenesulphonate (NaDBS) are modified by two methods: addition of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) during the electrodeposition and through redox cycling post electrodeposition. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to ascertain PEG incorporation and to analyze the change in the oxidation state of the polymer. Anodic cycling resulted in the formation of micrometer-sized surface cracks which increased the amount of Rhodamine-B dye adsorbed onto the surface, and played a role in decreasing the wettability of the surface. The change in surface wettability caused by these cracks was mitigated by the presence of PEG in the Ppy matrix. Compared to the incorporation of PEG, redox cycling was more effective in passively modulating the adhesion of NIH 3T3 fibroblast cells on the Ppy surface. Based on the attenuation of surface polarity of the Ppy surfaces by the incorporated PEG, a mechanism is proposed to explain the observed cell adhesion behavior.

Sensing and tactile artificial muscles from reactive materials

Films of conducting polymers can be oxidized and reduced in a reversible way. Any intermediate oxidation state determines an electrochemical equilibrium. Chemical or physical variables acting on the film may modify the equilibrium potential, so that the film acts as a sensor of the variable. The working potential of polypyrrole/DBSA (Dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid) films, oxidized or reduced under constant currents, changes as a function of the working conditions: electrolyte concentration, temperature or mechanical stress. During oxidation, the reactive material is a sensor of the ambient, the consumed electrical energy being the sensing magnitude. Devices based on any of the electrochemical properties of conducting polymers must act simultaneously as sensors of the working conditions. Artificial muscles, as electrochemical actuators constituted by reactive materials, respond to the ambient conditions during actuation. In this way, they can be used as actuators, sensing the surrounding conditions during actuation. Actuating and sensing signals are simultaneously included by the same two connecting wires.

Redox-induced surface stress of polypyrrole-based actuators

We measure the surface stress induced by electrochemical transformations of a thin conducting polymer film. One side of a micromechanical cantilever-based sensor is covered with an electropolymerized dodecyl benzenesulfonate-doped polypyrrole (PPyDBS) film. The microcantilever serves as both the working electrode (in a conventional three-electrode cell configuration) and as the mechanical transducer for simultaneous, in situ, and real-time measurements of the current and interfacial stress changes. A compressive change in surface stress of about -2 N/m is observed when the conducting polymer is electrochemically switched between its oxidized (PPy+) and neutral (PPy0) state by cyclic voltammetry. The surface stress sensor's response during the anomalous first reductive scan is examined. The effect of long-term cycling on the mechanical transformation ability of PPy(DBS) films in both surfactant and halide-based electrolytes is also discussed. We have identified two main competing origins of surface stress acting on the PPy(DBS)/ gold-coated microcantilever: one purely mechanical due to the volume change of the conducting polymer, and a second charge-induced, owing to the interaction of anions of the supporting electrolyte with the gold surface.

Polymer actuator valves toward controlled drug delivery application

A novel controlled drug delivery system in which drug release is achieved by electrochemically actuating an array of polymeric valves on a set of drug reservoirs has been developed. The valves are bilayer structures, made in shape of a flap hinged on one side to a valve seat, consisting of thin films of evaporated gold and electrochemically deposited polypyrrole (PPy). Drugs (dry or wet) were pre-stored in an array of these reservoirs and their release is accomplished by bending the bilayer flaps away from the substrate with a small applied bias. In vitro color dye release experiment has been conducted. Seventy-five percent less energy consumption was achieved with this bilayer polymer valve design to open a same size reservoir compared to metal-corrosion based valves. Complex release patterns such as multiple drug pulsatile release and continuous linear release have been successfully implemented through flexible control of valve actuation sequence. These valves can be actuated under closed-loop-control of sensors responding to a specific biological or environmental stimulus, leading to potential applications in advanced responsive drug delivery systems.

Microfabricating conjugated polymer actuators

Conjugated polymer actuators can be operated in aqueous media, which makes them attractive for laboratories-on-a-chip and applications under physiological conditions. One of the most stable conjugated polymers under these conditions is polypyrrole, which can be patterned by means of standard photolithography. Polypyrrole-gold bilayer actuators that bend out of the plane of the wafer have been microfabricated in our laboratory. These can be used to move and position other microcomponents. Here we review the current status of these microactuators, outlining the methods used to fabricate them. We describe the devices that have been demonstrated as well as some potential future applications.