Low-Cost Devices that Work With Human Tissue May Be Close: A Report

Researchers at Ohio State University are working to develop new technology that may pave the way for low-cost electronic devices capable of working in direct contact with living tissue inside the body.

First on their list, according to the scientists, is the development of a sensor that will detect the very early stages of organ transplant rejection.

One of the main obstacles facing implantable sensors, according to Paul Berger, professor of electrical and computer engineering and physics, is that most are based on silicon, and electrolytes in the body interfere with the electrical signals in silicon circuits. Other, more exotic, semiconductors, on the other hand, might work, but are more expensive and harder to manufacture.

“Silicon is relatively cheap … it’s non-toxic,” Berger said in a press release. “The challenge is to bridge the gap between the affordable, silicon-based electronics we already know how to build, and the electrochemical systems of the human body.”

The answer, according to Berger, lies in a new, patent-pending coating that he believes will bridge that gap, reporting that.

Sure enough, in tests, silicon circuits covered in the new technology continued to function even after 24 hours of immersion in a solution mimicking typical body chemistry. This was verified by running voltage across them. As they did so, the researchers found that the coating effectively blocked electrolytes from the solution so the sensors remained fully active.

And while the current study describes a silicon sensor coated with aluminum oxide, Berger envisions other devices utilizing coatings made from other materials, such as titanium, that could even be tailored to boost the performance of sensors or other biomedical devices.

Polymer-coated semiconductors, he believes, may hold the greatest potential with the possibility of one day replacing damaged nerves.

“We could replace a damaged nerve with an artificial neuron and restore functionality immediately, and that’s a really exciting possibility,” he said.

The paper regarding these findings was published in the journal Electronic Letters.