Invisible tech could see developments in smartphones and wearable devices

A powerful new electricity-conducting material developed by researchers at La Trobe University in Australia could lead to major improvements in devices like touch screens and wearable biosensors.

The material, described in a paper published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, is a type of conductive polymer.

“Conductive polymers as we know them were developed nearly 50 years ago and although they’re exciting, they haven’t lived up to their potential in that time,” says lead researcher George “Wren” Greene. “Often they are difficult to fabricate, as thin films don’t conduct electricity very well, aren’t transparent and can have highly variable properties.”

The La Trobe study outlines a polymer synthesised from hyaluronic acid – a popular ingredient in skincare – applied to a gold-plated surface to create a thin, durable film of conductive material.

The research challenges the previous belief among materials scientists that conductive polymers could only be created by adding substances like hyaluronic acid to a mixture of water and polymer-forming particles.

“Through our method, called ‘tethered dopant templating’, we’ve created a robust way of making a conductive polymer that is flexible, durable, can conduct electricity as well as metals and is easily reproduced – so it’s scalable,” Greene explains.

Dubbed 2D PEDOT, the material is invisible to the naked eye.

“We were very excited to find that not only did the polymers form when we tethered directly to the gold, but that these polymers were thinner, more powerfully conductive and almost foolproof to reproduce,” says lead researcher and PhD candidate Luiza Aguiar do Nascimento.

Conductive polymers like 2D PEDOT have a range of applications from smartphone touch screens to wearable medical devices which can monitor a patient’s bio signs and deliver carefully regulated doses of drugs.

“Currently, it is difficult to consistently reproduce conductive polymers at the high quality needed for health and medical monitoring and drug delivery devices,” says co-author Saimon Moraes Silva, senior researcher and Director of La Trobe’s Biomedical and Environmental Sensor Technology (BEST) Research Centre.

“I’m excited that we have created new capabilities for these materials which are scalable, affordable and reproducible.”