This New Approach to Flexible Electronics Is Clearly Better — Literally
Ideal for organ-on-chip research as well as implantables and wearables, these see-through electronics stretch in all three dimensions.
Researchers from the University of New South Wales, Griffith University, the University of Southern California, the University of Queensland, and Kyung Hee University have come up with a new way to make electronic systems that can flex and stretch in any direction — ideal, they say, for organ-on-chip projects, as the finished material is entirely see-through.
"Many people are keen to move towards medical testing on replicated versions of human cells rather than live animals for legal, ethical and moral reasons," explains project lead and co-corresponding author Hoang-Phuong Phan.
"You can grow 3D cell organs that mimic the organs in a real body," Phan continues, "but we also need to develop 3D electrodes to help facilitate that organ-on-chip process. Our process allows for an electronic system to be created on a membrane that can be stretched into any 3D shape around the organ-on-chip."
The team's flexible electronics are created using lithographic printing of wide-bandgap semiconductors onto thin and flexible nano-membranes, which are in turn affixed to a soft polymer substrate. "We use wide bandgap material, which unlike traditional semiconductor materials does not absorb visible light.
That means that when scientists want to observe the organ-on-chip through a microscope they can do so, which would not be possible otherwise," explains chief investigator and co-author Than Nho Do, PhD. "The electronic system on the membrane also allows a lot of data to be collected while monitoring how the artificial organ is reacting to different things while being tested."
To prove the concept, the team carried out stretchability tests, electrical measurements, and cell culture tests — and used the technology to create a flexible surgical robot, capable of bending one way and then the other through the application of pressure.
In the future, the team is hopeful the manufacturing process could lead to improved quality and comfort in medical wearables and implantables — and hope to see the system commercialized within the next three to five years.
The researchers' work has been published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials under open-access terms.