Hydrophilic Organic Electrodes on Flexible Hydrogels

A highly sensitive and long-term stable wearable patch for continuous analysis of biomarkers in sweat

Although increasing efforts have been devoted to the development of non-invasive wearable or stretchable electrochemical sweat sensors for monitoring physiological and metabolic information, most of them still suffer from poor stability and specificity over time and fluctuating temperatures. This study reports the design and fabrication of a long-term stable and highly sensitive flexible electrochemical sensor based on nanocomposite-modified porous graphene by simple and facile laser treatment for detecting biomarkers such as glucose in sweat. The laser-reduced and patterned stable conductive nanocomposite on the porous graphene electrode provides the resulting glucose sensor with an excellent sensitivity of 1317.69 μAmM-1cm-2 with an ultra-low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.079 μM. The sensor can also detect pH and exhibit extraordinary stability to maintain more than 91% sensitivity over 21 days in ambient conditions. Taken together with a temperature sensor based on the same material system, the dual glucose and pH sensor integrated with a flexible microfluidic sweat sampling network further results in accurate continuous on-body glucose detection calibrated by the simultaneously measured pH and temperature. The low-cost, highly sensitive, and long-term stable platform could facilitate and pave the way for the early identification and continuous monitoring of different biomarkers for non-invasive disease diagnosis and treatment evaluation.

Ophthalmic Sensors and Drug Delivery

Advances in multifunctional materials and technologies have allowed contact lenses to serve as wearable devices for continuous monitoring of physiological parameters and delivering drugs for ocular diseases. Since the tear fluids comprise a library of biomarkers, direct measurement of different parameters such as concentration of glucose, urea, proteins, nitrite, and chloride ions, intraocular pressure (IOP), corneal temperature, and pH can be carried out non-invasively using contact lens sensors. Microfluidic contact lens sensor based colorimetric sensing and liquid control mechanisms enable the wearers to perform self-examinations at home using smartphones. Furthermore, drug-laden contact lenses have emerged as delivery platforms using a low dosage of drugs with extended residence time and increased ocular bioavailability. This review provides an overview of contact lenses for ocular diagnostics and drug delivery applications. The designs, working principles, and sensing mechanisms of sensors and drug delivery systems are reviewed. The potential applications of contact lenses in point-of-care diagnostics and personalized medicine, along with the significance of integrating multiplexed sensing units together with drug delivery systems, have also been discussed.

CLEAR - Contact lens technologies of the future

Contact lenses in the future will likely have functions other than correction of refractive error. Lenses designed to control the development of myopia are already commercially available. Contact lenses as drug delivery devices and powered through advancements in nanotechnology will open up further opportunities for unique uses of contact lenses. This review examines the use, or potential use, of contact lenses aside from their role to correct refractive error. Contact lenses can be used to detect systemic and ocular surface diseases, treat and manage various ocular conditions and as devices that can correct presbyopia, control the development of myopia or be used for augmented vision. There is also discussion of new developments in contact lens packaging and storage cases. The use of contact lenses as devices to detect systemic disease has mostly focussed on detecting changes to glucose levels in tears for monitoring diabetic control. Glucose can be detected using changes in colour, fluorescence or generation of electric signals by embedded sensors such as boronic acid, concanavalin A or glucose oxidase. Contact lenses that have gained regulatory approval can measure changes in intraocular pressure to monitor glaucoma by measuring small changes in corneal shape. Challenges include integrating sensors into contact lenses and detecting the signals generated. Various techniques are used to optimise uptake and release of the drugs to the ocular surface to treat diseases such as dry eye, glaucoma, infection and allergy. Contact lenses that either mechanically or electronically change their shape are being investigated for the management of presbyopia. Contact lenses that slow the development of myopia are based upon incorporating concentric rings of plus power, peripheral optical zone(s) with add power or non-monotonic variations in power. Various forms of these lenses have shown a reduction in myopia in clinical trials and are available in various markets.

A Materials Roadmap to Functional Neural Interface Design

Advancement in neurotechnologies for electrophysiology, neurochemical sensing, neuromodulation, and optogenetics are revolutionizing scientific understanding of the brain while enabling treatments, cures, and preventative measures for a variety of neurological disorders. The grand challenge in neural interface engineering is to seamlessly integrate the interface between neurobiology and engineered technology, to record from and modulate neurons over chronic timescales. However, the biological inflammatory response to implants, neural degeneration, and long-term material stability diminish the quality of interface overtime. Recent advances in functional materials have been aimed at engineering solutions for chronic neural interfaces. Yet, the development and deployment of neural interfaces designed from novel materials have introduced new challenges that have largely avoided being addressed. Many engineering efforts that solely focus on optimizing individual probe design parameters, such as softness or flexibility, downplay critical multi-dimensional interactions between different physical properties of the device that contribute to overall performance and biocompatibility. Moreover, the use of these new materials present substantial new difficulties that must be addressed before regulatory approval for use in human patients will be achievable. In this review, the interdependence of different electrode components are highlighted to demonstrate the current materials-based challenges facing the field of neural interface engineering.

Electrowetting on Immersed Conducting Hydrogel

Conducting polymers demonstrate an interesting ability to change their wettability at ultralow voltage (<1 V). While the conducting hydrogel poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) is increasingly used as an interface with biology partly thanks to its mechanical properties, little is known about the electrical control of its wettability. We rely on the captive bubble technique to study this hydrogel property under relevant conditions (fully immerged). We here report that the wettability variations of PEDOT:PSS are driven by an electrowetting phenomenon in contrast to other conducting polymers which are thought to undergo wettability changes due to oxido-reduction reactions. In addition, we propose a modified electrowetting model to describe the wettability variations of PEDOT:PSS in aqueous solution under ultralow voltage and we show how these variations can be tuned in different ranges of contact angles (above or under 90°) by coating the PEDOT:PSS surface.

Glucose Sensing for Diabetes Monitoring: Recent Developments

This review highlights recent advances towards non-invasive and continuous glucose monitoring devices, with a particular focus placed on monitoring glucose concentrations in alternative physiological fluids to blood.

Wearable smart sensor systems integrated on soft contact lenses for wireless ocular diagnostics

Wearable contact lenses which can monitor physiological parameters have attracted substantial interests due to the capability of direct detection of biomarkers contained in body fluids. However, previously reported contact lens sensors can only monitor a single analyte at a time. Furthermore, such ocular contact lenses generally obstruct the field of vision of the subject. Here, we developed a multifunctional contact lens sensor that alleviates some of these limitations since it was developed on an actual ocular contact lens. It was also designed to monitor glucose within tears, as well as intraocular pressure using the resistance and capacitance of the electronic device. Furthermore, in-vivo and in-vitro tests using a live rabbit and bovine eyeball demonstrated its reliable operation. Our developed contact lens sensor can measure the glucose level in tear fluid and intraocular pressure simultaneously but yet independently based on different electrical responses.

Nanoreinforced Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering: Biomaterials that are Compatible with Load-Bearing and Electroactive Tissues

Given their highly porous nature and excellent water retention, hydrogel-based biomaterials can mimic critical properties of the native cellular environment. However, their potential to emulate the electromechanical milieu of native tissues or conform well with the curved topology of human organs needs to be further explored to address a broad range of physiological demands of the body. In this regard, the incorporation of nanomaterials within hydrogels has shown great promise, as a simple one-step approach, to generate multifunctional scaffolds with previously unattainable biological, mechanical, and electrical properties. Here, recent advances in the fabrication and application of nanocomposite hydrogels in tissue engineering applications are described, with specific attention toward skeletal and electroactive tissues, such as cardiac, nerve, bone, cartilage, and skeletal muscle. Additionally, some potential uses of nanoreinforced hydrogels within the emerging disciplines of cyborganics, bionics, and soft biorobotics are highlighted.

Electrically conductive graphene/polyacrylamide hydrogels produced by mild chemical reduction for enhanced myoblast growth and differentiation

Graphene and graphene derivatives, such as graphene oxide (GO) and reduced GO (rGO), have been extensively employed as novel components of biomaterials because of their unique electrical and mechanical properties. These materials have also been used to fabricate electrically conductive biomaterials that can effectively deliver electrical signals to biological systems. Recently, increasing attention has been paid to electrically conductive hydrogels that have both electrical activity and a tissue-like softness. In this study, we synthesized conductive graphene hydrogels by mild chemical reduction of graphene oxide/polyacrylamide (GO/PAAm) composite hydrogels to obtain conductive hydrogels. The reduced hydrogel, r(GO/PAAm), exhibited muscle tissue-like stiffness with a Young's modulus of approximately 50kPa. The electrochemical impedance of r(GO/PAAm) could be decreased by more than ten times compared to that of PAAm and unreduced GO/PAAm. In vitro studies with C2C12 myoblasts revealed that r(GO/PAAm) significantly enhanced proliferation and myogenic differentiation compared with unreduced GO/PAAm and PAAm. Moreover, electrical stimulation of myoblasts growing on r(GO/PAAm) graphene hydrogels for 7days significantly enhanced the myogenic gene expression compared to unstimulated controls. As results, our graphene-based conductive and soft hydrogels will be useful as skeletal muscle tissue scaffolds and can serve as a multifunctional platform that can simultaneously deliver electrical and mechanical cues to biological systems.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Graphene-based conductive hydrogels presenting electrical conductance and a soft tissue-like modulus were successfully fabricated via mild reduction of graphene oxide/polyacrylamide composite hydrogels to study their potential to skeletal tissue scaffold applications. Significantly promoted myoblast proliferation and differentiation were obtained on our hydrogels. Additionally, electrical stimulation of myoblasts via the graphene hydrogels could further upregulate myogenic gene expressions. Our graphene-incorporated conductive hydrogels will impact on the development of new materials for skeletal muscle tissue engineering scaffolds and bioelectronics devices, and also serve as novel platforms to study cellular interactions with electrical and mechanical signals.