Abstract
Medical science technology has improved tremendously over the decades with the invention of robotic surgery, gene editing, immune therapy, etc. However, scientists are now recognizing the significance of ‘biological circuits’ i.e., bodily innate electrical systems for the healthy functioning of the body or for any disease conditions. Therefore, the current trend in the medical field is to understand the role of these biological circuits and exploit their advantages for therapeutic purposes. Bioelectronics, devised with these aims, work by resetting, stimulating, or blocking the electrical pathways. Bioelectronics are also used to monitor the biological cues to assess the homeostasis of the body. In a way, they bridge the gap between drug-based interventions and medical devices. With this in mind, scientists are now working towards developing flexible and stretchable miniaturized bioelectronics that can easily conform to the tissue topology, are non-toxic, elicit no immune reaction, and address the issues that drugs are unable to solve. Since the bioelectronic devices that come in contact with the body or body organs need to establish an unobstructed interface with the respective site, it is crucial that those bioelectronics are not only flexible but also stretchable for constant monitoring of the biological signals. Understanding the challenges of fabricating soft stretchable devices, we review several flexible and stretchable materials used as substrate, stretchable electrical conduits and encapsulation, design modifications for stretchability, fabrication techniques, methods of signal transmission and monitoring, and the power sources for these stretchable bioelectronics. Ultimately, these bioelectronic devices can be used for wide range of applications from skin bioelectronics and biosensing devices, to neural implants for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes.
Highlights
The field of bioelectronics, which goes by the name of neuromodulation, bio-stimulation, electroceuticals, wearables, implantables, etc., is an emerging field either as an alternative or as an add-on to chemical and biologic drugs [1]
Flexible/stretchable bioelectronic devices are defined as those devices that can bend and undergo mechanical deformation with the ability to conform to biological tissue while maintaining electrical integrity under deformation [7]
This review paper focused on various aspects required for the fabrication of a fully functional stretchable bioelectronic device
Summary
The field of bioelectronics, which goes by the name of neuromodulation, bio-stimulation, electroceuticals, wearables, implantables, etc., is an emerging field either as an alternative or as an add-on to chemical and biologic drugs [1]. With the understanding that the human body functions and communicates through biophysical cues such as electrical, thermal, mechanical, and topographic signals [4], tremendous advances in developing tools have been achieved to sense and acquire those physiological signals for diagnostic purposes or to introduce physical stimuli for preventative and therapeutic purposes. Those tools/devices utilize substrates or an encapsulation layer, semiconductors as a functional interface with the biological material, and a power supply [5]. We provide a complete review from the fabrication perspective by summarizing the (i) materials for substrates and stretchable electrodes; (ii) structural design and fabrication methods to adapt to large deformations without considerable damage to the device and biological structure; (iii) methods of signal transduction and communication between the stretchable device and recording device; and (iv) power sources for the operation of the fabricated stretchable devices
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