Abstract
Scientific and engineering progress associated with increased interest in healthcare monitoring, therapy, and human-machine interfaces has rapidly accelerated the development of bio-integrated multifunctional devices. Recently, compensation for the cons of existing materials on electronics for health care systems has been provided by carbon-based nanomaterials. Due to their excellent mechanical and electrical properties, these materials provide benefits such as improved flexibility and stretchability for conformal integration with the soft, curvilinear surfaces of human tissues or organs, while maintaining their own unique functions. This review summarizes the most recent advanced biomedical devices and technologies based on two most popular carbon based materials, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene. In the beginning, we discuss the biocompatibility of CNTs and graphene by examining their cytotoxicity and/or detrimental effects on the human body for application to bioelectronics. Then, we scrutinize the various types of flexible and/or stretchable substrates that are integrated with CNTs and graphene for the construction of high-quality active electrode arrays and sensors. The convergence of these carbon-based materials and bioelectronics ensures scalability and cooperativity in various fields. Finally, future works with challenges are presented in bio-integrated electronic applications with these carbon-based materials.
Highlights
Over the past few decades, commercial nanoscale electronic devices, based on semiconductor wafers composed of single-crystal inorganic materials, have achieved high performance with a significant development of fabrication processes
This review covers some of the latest bioelectronics based on carbon nanotubes and graphene, the most representative carbon nanomaterials
In addition to their high electrical conductivity and optical transparency, excellent mechanical properties that are not found in conventional metal or semiconducting materials have allowed them to be extensively studied as wearable or implantable electronics
Summary
Over the past few decades, commercial nanoscale electronic devices, based on semiconductor wafers composed of single-crystal inorganic materials, have achieved high performance with a significant development of fabrication processes Despite these technological advances, devices with bulky, rigid, and planar materials have limitations for use as flexible or stretchable electronics [1,2,3]. Because of their poor mechanical properties, such as high Young’s modulus and mechanical rigidity [4], which can induce device fracture when it comes under conditions of large mechanical deformation To resolve this problem, the establishment of soft–hard integrated materials [5,6] or the integration of ultra-thin semiconducting materials with soft substrates are strongly suggested for flexible and stretchable electronics [7,8,9,10]. We introduce some of the key flexible electronics with carbon-based materials that can be utilized for intrinsically conformal contact with tissues, and for biocompatibility in physiological environments for applications in bio-integrated electronics
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