A starch and graphene hydrogel geared towards electrodes for brain implants is developed
Hydrogels with electrical and antibacterial properties suitable for neural interfaces
Kizkitza Gonzalez / UPV/EHU
When creating the hydrogel, they took its use in neural interfaces into consideration, in other words, the components responsible for the electrical connection in implants that interact with the nervous system. "Due to the fact that the traditional electrodes of neural interfaces made of platinum or gold, for example, are rigid, they require conductive polymer coatings to bring their flexibility closer to that of neural tissue. Right now, however, smaller devices are being called for and also ones that offer better mechanical, electrical and biological properties," explained the researcher.
The hydrogels developed "address these demands very well", explained Gonzalez. To provide the hydrogel with electrical conductivity, they resorted to graphene, "a material of great interest. It provides electrical properties that are highly suited to the hydrogel, but this also has a drawback: it is not easily stabilised in water. We used extracts of salvia to overcome this obstacle and to render the graphene stable in an aqueous medium. These extracts also make the hydrogel even more suitable, if that is possible, for use in medicine as it also has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties", she added.
Another of the distinctive features of this research was the use of so-called click chemistry to produce the hydrogel. "It is a strategy that in recent years has been grabbing the attention of the scientific community, because, unlike other means of synthesis, click chemistry does not tend to use catalysts in the reactions; in addition, no by-products are generated and they are high-performance reactions," said the researcher Gonzalez.
Although this product was designed for a very specific application, the researcher recognises that this product of bioengineering has a long way to go until it can be used in patients. "It was a piece of research at an initial level focussing on the engineering side relating to the material. Now, the various levels will have to be overcome and the corresponding tests designed".