Abstract
Electrical interfaces between biological cells and man-made electrical devices exist in many forms, but it remains a challenge to bridge the different mechanical and chemical environments of electronic conductors (metals, semiconductors) and biosystems. Here we demonstrate soft electrical interfaces, by integrating the metallic polymer PEDOT-S into lipid membranes. By preparing complexes between alkyl-ammonium salts and PEDOT-S we were able to integrate PEDOT-S into both liposomes and in lipid bilayers on solid surfaces. This is a step towards efficient electronic conduction within lipid membranes. We also demonstrate that the PEDOT-S@alkyl-ammonium:lipid hybrid structures created in this work affect ion channels in the membrane of Xenopus oocytes, which shows the possibility to access and control cell membrane structures with conductive polyelectrolytes.
Highlights
Electrical interfaces between biological cells and man-made electrical devices exist in many forms, but it remains a challenge to bridge the different mechanical and chemical environments of electronic conductors and biosystems
We investigated the interaction between PEDOT-S (~16 monomer units43) and various alkyl-ammonium salts, with the aim to form PEDOT-S@alkyl-ammonium complexes that are soluble in organic solvents (Fig. 1b)
Many of the investigated alkyl-ammonium salts formed complexes with PEDOT-S, which precipitated in water; not all of the precipitates were readily dissolved in the organic solvent
Summary
Electrical interfaces between biological cells and man-made electrical devices exist in many forms, but it remains a challenge to bridge the different mechanical and chemical environments of electronic conductors (metals, semiconductors) and biosystems. We demonstrate soft electrical interfaces, by integrating the metallic polymer PEDOT-S into lipid membranes. By preparing complexes between alkyl-ammonium salts and PEDOT-S we were able to integrate PEDOT-S into both liposomes and in lipid bilayers on solid surfaces This is a step towards efficient electronic conduction within lipid membranes. Lipids have an extraordinary ability to form biomembranes and form the compartments in living systems This property of lipids can be used in vitro to create a wide variety of model membrane systems (MMS) such as liposomes, nanotubes, monolayers, bilayers and multilayers. A novel and intriguing approach to achieve such soft electrical interfaces would be to introduce electrically conducting materials into a lipid membrane In such a scenario, the dimensions of the conductor should be found in the range of the thickness of biomembranes, limiting the choice of conductors to the nanoregime. No long-range conductivities within lipid bilayers have been reported yet
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
