Journal Article

Boosting hydrogel conductivity via water-dispersible conducting polymers for injectable bioelectronics

Sampath, Rohan R., Liu, Tianhan, Haghniaz, Reihaneh, Gao, Wei, Lorestani, Farnaz, Hosseinzadeh, Negar, Anderson, Daniel G., Hsiai, Tzung K., Langer, Robert, Davoodi, Elham, Khademhosseini, Ali, Weiss, Paul S., Montazerian, Hossein, Khosravi, Safoora, Mohaghegh, Neda, Najafabadi, Alireza Hassani, Zehtabi, Fatemeh, Wang, Canran, Zhao, Yichao, Li, Jiahong

2025

Overview

Bioelectronic devices hold transformative potential for healthcare diagnostics and therapeutics. Yet, traditional electronic implants often require invasive surgeries and  are mechanically incompatible with biological tissues. Injectable hydrogel bioelectronics offer a minimally invasive alternative that interfaces with soft tissue seamlessly. A major challenge is the low conductivity of bioelectronic systems, stemming from poor dispersibility of conductive additives in hydrogel mixtures. We address this issue by engineering doping conditions with hydrophilic biomacromolecules, enhancing the dispersibility of conductive polymers in aqueous systems. This approach achieves a 5-fold increase in dispersibility and a 20-fold boost in conductivity compared to conventional methods. The resulting conductive polymers are molecularly and in vivo degradable, making them suitable for transient bioelectronics applications. These additives are compatible with various hydrogel systems, such as alginate, forming ionically cross-linkable conductive inks for 3D-printed wearable electronics toward high-performance physiological monitoring. Furthermore, integrating conductive fillers with gelatin-based bioadhesive hydrogels substantially enhances conductivity for injectable sealants, achieving 250% greater sensitivity in pH sensing for chronic wound monitoring. Our findings indicate that hydrophilic dopants effectively tailor conducting polymers for hydrogel fillers, enhancing their biodegradability and expanding applications in transient implantable biomonitoring. Injectable bioelectronics face low conductivity due to poor polymer dispersibility. Here, authors engineer dopants in conductive polymers to boost their water dispersibility 5-fold and conductivity 20-fold, enabling biodegradable, 3D-printable hydrogels for wearables and implantable devices.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 147/135 / 639/166/985 / 639/301/1005 / 639/301/54 / 639/301/930 / 639/638/298 / Additives / Alginates / Alginates - chemistry / Alginic acid / Animals / Biocompatible Materials - chemistry / Biodegradability / Biodegradation / Bioelectricity / Biomonitoring / Conducting polymers / Conductivity / Dopants / Electric Conductivity / Electronic implants / Fillers / Gelatin / Gelatin - chemistry / Humanities and Social Sciences / Humans / Hydrogels / Hydrogels - chemistry / Hydrophilicity / In vivo methods and tests / Injections / Low conductivity / multidisciplinary / Polymers / Polymers - chemistry / Printing, Three-Dimensional / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Soft tissues / Water - chemistry / Wearable Electronic Devices