Editors: | F. Kongoli, H. Inufasa, M. G. Boutelle , R. Compton, J.-M. Dubois, F. Murad |
Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
Publication Year: | 2018 |
Pages: | 216 pages |
ISBN: | 978-1-987820-84-3 |
ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
Nearly all kinds of cells within organisms are sensitive to mechanical forces and convert into specific biochemical responses. This important and sophisticated process is described as mechanotransduction. To monitor such presumably transient and weak signaling events from very early stages of mechanotransduction, flexible and stretchable biocompatible electrochemical sensors should offer ideal platforms for applying mechanical strains and monitoring electroactive biochemical responses at the same time. However, to date, despite several stimulating progresses in stretchable physical sensors and very few emerging successes in wearable electrochemical devices, very few breakthrough has emerged for inducing mechanotransduction and investigating it in real-time by a single electrochemical device.
To address this issue, we reported high-performance stretchable electrodes based on interlacing networks of gold nanotubes (Au NTs) or carbon nanotubes (CNTs) deposited on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) thin films. This allowed for the first time, real-time electrochemical monitoring of mechanically sensitive cells on the sensor both in their stretching-free and stretching states, as well as sensing of the inner lining of blood vessels. To detect very weak transient signals triggered from cells by stretching strains only, the mechanical and electrochemical performances of stretchable sensor were further enhanced by implementing a percolating CNTs network onto the Au NTs backbones, which allowed monitoring stretch-induced transient release of vasoactive molecules by endothelial cells cultured on this sensor and submitted to stretching strains. Furthermore, by combination of electrochemical sensing materials and nanophotocatalyst, we developed a stretchable and photocatalytically renewable sensor which endows the sensor with excellent electrochemcial performance and high photocatalytic activity, and thereby providing a versatile and efficient way to promote the biomedical applications of stretchable devices in cell and tissue monitoring.