CONDUCTING POLYMERS: A BRIDGE ACROSS THE BIONIC INTERFACE

HEADNOTE

Inherently conducting polymers (ICPs) exhibit a variety of dynamic behaviors that make them an exciting platform for a new generation of bionic devices.

Bionics - the quest to interface the worlds of biology and electronics to improve human performance

- is a fascinating and challenging field of research. One of the most successful bionic devices developed to date is the cochlear implant (1), wherein nerve cells located in the cochlea are reconnected to the world of sound using a 22electrode array, a speech processor and a microphone system. Other bionic devices include the bionic eye (2), stimulators for restoration of function in damaged spinal cord (3) and a neuroprosthesis for restoration of hand control (4).

Existing bionic devices use conventional electronic materials that are often not inherently compatible with biological systems. Although implant materials that are biocompatible (i.e., the biochemical and cellular changes they undergo in vivo are not harmful) do exist, the hard and static nature of metals and metal oxides are quite foreign to the biological environment.