Apr 20 2016
A breakthrough research by Washington State University’s assistant professor of physics, Brian Collins is paving the way for the creation of biological implants that have the capacity to communicate with the brain, to provide vision to the visually challenged or to control paralyzed limbs.
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Collins teamed up with a global team of researchers to develop techniques to enhance the performance of a conductive plastic that can be applied in gadgets that communicate with the human body. Sensors based on the implant material are better in identifying and recording signals utilized by neurons in the brain. The material could also be utilized for improved energy storage in advanced battery technology, and gradually find use in other flexible future applications.
The research findings have been published in Nature Communications.
Because this material is biocompatible, it could be used in a wide array of medical implants and other on-the-body technologies. Circuits made with this polymer or another material like it could lead to clothing embedded with sensors, displays, even power sources, and might one day result in robotics that look, feel and even operate just like biological entities.
Brian Collins, Professor of Physics, Washington State University
Optimizing conduction in plastic
Conductive plastic, also referred to as polymer, is a fairly new material. Its precursors were mostly used in organic LED-based TV sets and cell phones. Compared to metal-based gadgets and circuitry, polymers are flexible, biocompatible and can be easily mass-produced.
They are produced from earth abundant elements, such as nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen, and can be printed from inks. The materials analyzed by Collins possessed two more critical qualities - the ability to conduct both ionic and electrical signals – that neurons in the brain use to communicate. These features are also vital for materials in batteries.
The main issue with polymer-based electronics is that the nanostructure’s effect on performance has not been fully understood to date, which raises the question of how to improve the performance. As they are composed of low-density carbon and other light elements, polymers are tough to analyze at the nanoscale.
To have a device that can interface with the brain, it would need to be sensitive enough to detect faint ionic signals of neuronal activity and then capable of converting these to electrical signals that can be interpreted by a computer. Unfortunately, there are very few non-toxic commercial materials that can do this. With our research, it will be possible to achieve the critical capabilities of both types of conduction for polymer materials that can be used in the development of future devices.
Brian Collins, Professor of Physics, Washington State University
‘Tuning’ materials for best performance
Collins analyzes the connection between the electrical properties and physical nanostructure of conductive polymers. When Collins was at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, he created a new resonant X-ray scattering method to exclusively probe molecular patterns of polymer nanomaterials. Using this method, he was able to affirm the way the arrangements can be controlled and customized. His research activities were performed using the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Researchers, who worked with Collins from the Department of Bioelectronics at the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines in France, then applied a new technique to individually measure ionic and electrical conductivity to establish which molecular arrangement performed excellently.
Devices based on these materials could result in medical breakthroughs similar to the recent report of limb reanimation. With our new ability to probe both polymer nanostructure and properties, it will be possible to tune materials for optimal performance in an array of novel technologies.
Brian Collins, Professor of Physics, Washington State University
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy supports the Advanced Light Source.