Application of Biopolymer Doped Polypyrroles in Biomedical Implants and Electrical Stimulation Devices

Organic conductive polymers are emerging new materials for biomedical engineering. They offer surface properties which are attractive for many biomedical applications, such as surface coatings on metallic or biodegradable polymeric implants, tissue engineering scaffolds, implantable electronic tissue stimulation devices and microelectromechanical systems for the manipulation of single living cells in vitro, for example. Owing to the proven compatibility with tissues and cells, conductive polypyrrole (PPy) has been intensively investigated for bone and neural stimulation applications. A salient feature of PPy is its easy modification with bioactive molecules and macromolecules, such as the extracellular matrix (ECM) components of animal tissues. This work assessed the ECM components hyaluronic acid (HA) and chondrointin sulfate (CS) as dopants, which we incorporated into the PPy during the syntheses by electrochemical and oxidative chemical polymerization.Biopolymer doped PPys have been earlier reported to be good substrates for cell cultures. Furthermore, preceding implantation studies have shown promising results. However, considering clinical application and registration of PPy as a biomaterial in commercial cell culturing or tissue engineering products, there are still many practical aspects requiring more attention, such as the establishment of feasible synthetic routes, sterilizability, preservation of the electronic properties during storage and during the incubation in physiological conditions, possible biodegradation mechanisms, stability and biological elimination of the degradation products in vivo, for example. Mass spectroscopy of the hydrolysis products of polylactide (PLA) fibers coated with layer of PPy, suggested that the PPy was biostable in water at neutral pH. Electrical conductivity measurements and Raman spectroscopy showed that the PPy chain was prone to de-doping, and hence the lost its conductivity under biological conditions, but these effects were partly reversible by acid doping and positively biased electrochemical potential. The electrochemical redox activity and electromechanical actuation property of the biopolymer doped PPys was thoroughly studied. It was shown that the biopolymer doped PPy had significant and reversible redox activity, which could be potentially utilized in microelectromechanical stimulation of cells and implantable microscopic actuators.Practical and reproducible polymerization protocols were developed during this work. We took novel approaches and suggested a relatively simple “one-pot” chemical polymerization scheme, avoiding the complications of biological functionalization using potentially toxic click-chemistry. The developed methods were successfully applied in the deposition of electrically conductive, biopolymer doped PPy coatings on polylactide (PLA) nonwoven tissue engineering scaffolds and commercial poly(lactide-co-glycolide)-β-tricalcium phosphate (PLGA-β-TCP) bone fixation screws.The physical properties and cell response of HA and CS doped PPys (PPyHA and PPyCS) electrode coatings were investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and electrochemical methods. Drastically different behaviour of adipose stem cells (hASC) was found on the different electrode coatings, highlighting the sensitity of the hASCs on the nanoscopic and microscopic surface properties of the PPy substrate, such as surface roughness, elasticity and surface potential distribution, factors which could be engineered during the synthesis and affected by external stimuli during incubation in cell culture medium.In conclusion, the resuls of this thesis supported the use of PPy coatings in bone tissue engineering. The electropolymerized films and also the chemically polymerized PPyHA and PPyCS coatings on bioabsorbable polymer were highly compatible with hASCs, supported cell adhesion and could be utilized in delivering direct electrical stimulation in vitro. There is also future potential in designing permanently implantable scaffolds and microstimulation devices, but still further insight into the biodegradation mechanism and biological elimination of PPy in vivo is needed

Polymer Films for Photovoltaic Applications

Reprints of Polymers Special Issue entitled "Polymer films for photovoltaic applications", which covers all fields related to polymer films for photovoltaic applications, but special attention will be given to the following aspects:- The synthesis and suitable modification of polymer structure, to obtain polymer thin films for PV devices;- The influence of film deposition (thermal vacuum evaporation (TVE), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), spin coating, spray, etc.) on the properties of polymer films;- The thermo-optical properties of polymer thin films and blends of polymer films, as potential parts of PV systems;- The influence of doping or protonation of polymer thin films and blend polymer films on their properties;- Polymer thin films as active layers in PV solar cells—correlation of chemical structure and PV properties;- BHJ solar cells with polymer blends films—the choice of blend film composition to obtain the best PV parameters

Nanocrystal

We focused on cutting-edge science and technology of Nanocrystals in this book. "Nanocrystal" is expected to lead to the creation of new materials with revolutionary properties and functions. It will open up fresh possibilities for the solution to the environmental problems and energy problems. We wish that this book contributes to bequeath a beautiful environment and valuable resources to subsequent generations