Suchergebnisse

Organic electronics requires the development of reproducible and highly conductive thin films. The arrangement of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) with fullerene C60 leads to products with the combined properties of both species that are excellent candidates for these applications. However, very little has been studied about the effect of doping PEDOT with C60, and thus there is a lack of information regarding the morphology, electrochemical and electrochromic properties of the resulting films. Herein, simultaneous electrodeposition of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) doped with fullerene C60 was carried out via cyclic voltammetry in the range from 0.0 V to +1.5 V (vs Ag/AgCl) in a three-compartment cell. ITO coated on PET was used as both working and counter electrodes. The fullerene presence within the films was confirmed with MALDI and TGA (27.5% of fullerene content). The cyclic voltamograms showed that the C60-doped film has a higher oxidation potential, what was attributed to the electron affinity of the fullerene cage. Furthermore, the spectroelectrochemical and electrochromic analyses showed that the PEDOT/C60 films present a dark violet coloration in the reduced state, which differs from the usual dark blue of the PEDOT polymer. Finally, the morphology was analyzed using AFM and SEM, and pillar structure of broccoli-like particles was observed for both films. However, the fullerene doping generated smaller polymer-based particles, thus forming a denser structure with higher surface area, suggesting the use of the cages as nucleation points for the polymerization ; AXA Research Fund, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness MINECO (project CTQ2016-76721-R), the University of Trieste and Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa program Red (101/16) are gratefully acknowledged for financial support. MS aknowledges the financial support from the Spanish Government (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, project IJCI-2014-19052)

11 Figuras.- Información suplementaria disponible en línea en la web del editor. ; Three-dimensional scaffolds for cellular organization need to enjoy a series of specific properties. On the one hand, the morphology, shape and porosity are critical parameters and eventually related with the mechanical properties. On the other hand, electrical conductivity is an important asset when dealing with electroactive cells, so it is a desirable property even if the conductivity values are not particularly high. Here, we construct three-dimensional (3D) porous and conductive composites, where C8-D1A astrocytic cells were incubated to study their biocompatibility. The manufactured scaffolds are composed exclusively of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), a most promising material to interface with neuronal tissue, and polypyrrole (PPy), a conjugated polymer demonstrated to reduce gliosis, improve adaptability, and increase charge-transfer efficiency in brain-machine interfaces. We developed a new and easy strategy, based on the vapor phase polymerization (VPP) technique, where the monomer vapor is polymerized inside a sucrose sacrificial template containing CNT and an oxidizing agent. After removing the sucrose template, a 3D porous scaffold was obtained and its physical, chemical, and electrical properties were evaluated. The obtained scaffold showed very low density, high and homogeneous porosity, electrical conductivity, and Young's Modulus similar to the in vivo tissue. Its high biocompatibility was demonstrated even after 6 days of incubation, thus paving the way for the development of new conductive 3D scaffolds potentially useful in the field of electroactive tissues. ; M.P. received funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness MINECO (project CTQ2016-76721-R), Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa program Red (101/16), and ELKARTEK bmG2017 (ref: Elkartek KK-2017/00008. BOPV resolution: 8 Feb 2018). N.A. has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement 753293, acronym NanoBEAT ; Peer reviewed

8 figures.-- Supporting information available on the editor's web page.-- This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsbiomaterials.9b01316 ; Three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds with tailored stiffness, porosity, and conductive properties are particularly important in tissue engineering for electroactive cell attachment, proliferation, and vascularization. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) have been extensively used separately as neural interfaces showing excellent results. Herein, we combine both the materials and manufacture 3D structures composed exclusively of PEDOT and CNTs using a methodology based on vapor phase polymerization of PEDOT onto a CNT/sucrose template. Such a strategy presents versatility to produce porous scaffolds, after leaching out the sucrose grains, with different ratios of polymer/CNTs, and controllable and tunable electrical and mechanical properties. The resulting 3D structures show Young's modulus typical of soft materials (20–50 kPa), as well as high electrical conductivity, which may play an important role in electroactive cell growth. The conductive PEDOT/CNT porous scaffolds present high biocompatibility after 3 and 6 days of C8-D1A astrocyte incubation. ; The Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness MINECO (project CTQ2016-76721-R), the University of Trieste, Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa program Red (101/16), and the European Commission (H2020-MSCA-RISE-2016, grant agreement no. 734381, acronym CARBO-IMmap) and ELKARTEK bmG2017 (Ref: Elkartek KK-2017/00008, BOPV resolution: 8 Feb 2018) are gratefully acknowledged for financial support. MP, as the recipient of the AXA Chair, is grateful to the AXA Research Fund for financial support. This work was performed under the Maria de Maeztu Units of Excellence Program from the Spanish State Research Agency—grant no. MDM-2017-0720. NA has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 753293, acronym NanoBEAT. ; Peer reviewed