Synergistic Charge Percolation in Conducting Polymers Enables High‐Performance In Vivo Sensing of Neurochemical and Neuroelectrical Signals
Tianci Xu, Wenliang Ji, Yue Zhang, Xiaofang Wang, Nan Gao, Lanqun Mao, Meining Zhang
Abstract
Challenges remain in establishing a universal method to precisely tune electrochemical properties of conducting polymers for multifunctional neurosensing with high selectivity and sensitivity. Here, we demonstrate a facile and general approach to achieving synergistic charge percolation in conducting polymers (i.e., poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate), PEDOT:PSS) by incorporating conductive catalysts (i.e., carbon nanotubes, CNTs) and post-processing. The approach shows synergistic effects: (i) CNTs and post-processing together promote PEDOT ordered interconnection for highly efficient charge percolation that accelerates electrochemical kinetics; (ii) CNTs catalyze the electrooxidation of vitamin C for selective electrochemical sensing; (iii) CNTs enhance the charge storage/injection capacity of PEDOT:PSS. The prepared CNT-PEDOT:PSS fiber mechanically matches with neural tissues and is proved to be a biocompatible versatile microsensor capable of high-performance neurosensing in vivo.