Abstract
Conducting polymer electrodes based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene doped with poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) are evaluated as transducers to record extracellular signals in cell populations. The performance of the polymer electrode is compared with a gold electrode. A small-signal impedance analysis shows that in the presence of an electrolyte, the polymer electrode establishes for frequencies below 100 Hz a higher capacitive electrical double layer at the electrode/electrolyte interface. Furthermore, the polymer/electrolyte interfacial resistance is several orders of magnitude lower than the resistance of the gold/electrolyte interface. The polymer low interfacial resistance minimizes the intrinsic thermal noise and increases the system sensitivity. The ultra-sensitivity of the polymer-based transducer system was demonstrated by recording the electrical activity of cancer cells of the nervous system.
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Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through the project “Implantable organic devices for advanced therapies” (INNOVATE), PTDC/EEI-AUT/5442/2014), the Instituto de Telecomunicações, UID/Multi/04326/2013.
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Asgarifar, S., Inácio, P.M.C., Mestre, A.L.G. et al. Ultrasensitive bioelectronic devices based on conducting polymers for electrophysiology studies. Chem. Pap. 72, 1597–1603 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-018-0481-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-018-0481-z