2023-06-20 11:45:19
A new material as soft as gelatin could replace metals as the electrical connection medium for pacemakers, cochlear implants, and other electronic medical implants.
That class of implants is growing dramatically in device classes and in specimens. The most traditional are pacemakers and cochlear implants, but retinal microchips and cerebral microchips are already taking shape in the not too distant future, to do things like increase the ability to see when it is impaired, treat depression and recover the mobility of paralyzed parts. of the body.
Some implants are rigid and bulky, while others are flexible and tiny. But whatever their form and function, almost all implants incorporate electrodes, small electrically conductive components that are attached directly to the tissues of interest to electrically stimulate the desired muscles and nerves in them.
Implantable electrodes are made primarily of rigid metals that are electrically conductive in nature. But over time, metals can damage the tissues they come in contact with, causing scarring and inflammation that can in turn degrade implant performance.
Now a team led by Tao Zhou of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States (now working at Pennsylvania State University in the United States) has developed a metal-free material that is as soft and strong as biological tissue and can conduct electricity in a similar way to conventional metals.
The new soft, metal-free material, capable of conducting electricity in a similar way to conventional metals, could one day replace metals in the electrodes of medical implants. (Image: Happy Frankel. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
The new material can be applied as an ink with which to print on the surface of the objects that will act as electrodes.
The material, a type of high-performance conductive polymeric hydrogel, could one day replace metals in medical electronic implants.
Zhou and his colleagues discuss the technical details of the new electrode material in the academic journal Nature Materials, under the title “3D printable high-performance conducting polymer hydrogel for all-hydrogel bioelectronic interfaces.” (Source: NCYT from Amazings)
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