(Invited) Biomimetic Engineering of Polymer Semiconductors and Devices for Interfacing with Biological Systems

The vast amount of biological mysteries and biomedical challenges faced by human provide a prominent drive for seamlessly merging electronics with biological living systems (e.g. human bodies) to achieve long-term stable functions. Towards this trend, one of the key requirements for electronics is to possess biomimetic form-factors in various aspects for achieving the long-term biocompatibility. To enable such paradigm-shifting requirements on materials for electronics, polymer semiconductors are the uniquely promising for combining advanced electronic functionalities with biomimetic properties. In this talk, I will introduce our new molecular design and physical processing concepts for polymer semiconductors, which enabled the incorporation of multiple biomimetic properties with advanced electronic functionalities. Fundamental understandings that have been obtained about the structure property relationship on these unprecedented material designs are serving as the foundation for opening up this new research direction for polymer semiconductors. Towards benefiting the targeted application areas of biological studies and biomedical engineering, the incorporated biomimetic properties have also been transformed onto electronic devices that are designed to interface with biological systems.