Biomimicking and functional conducting Polymers

The goal is to obtain a controlled interaction and an efficient electro-coupling toward neural tissues for conducting polymers. We utilize organic synthesis, electropolymerization, oxidative polymerization, vapor phase polymerization and either template or template-free nanoassembly to construct a bioinspired PEDOT materials combining selective biointeractions with efficient ionic conductivity.

Electroresponsive conducting polymer materials

We are interested in electro-responsive polymers, as electrical signals can easily reach anywhere of human body, and spatiotemporally resolved via electrode arrays. The goal of this topic is to prepare the electroresponsive conducting polymer materials, which modulus, deformation or biofunction can be tuned by electrical signals.  

Shear resistant composites

High performance thermoplastic fibers, including high-molecular-weight PE, aramid and PBO fibers, suffer from poor interfacial strength when reinforcing thermoset plastics. The goal of this topic is synthesizing water-soluble sizing polymer, which make the interfacial strength tunable, and developing optimized sizing process for these polymers.

Bioelectronics

It is very intriguing to functionalize electronic devices by our functional polymers, as it can enable devices a selective and efficient electro-coupling with targeted cells or tissues while prevent nonspecific-interaction induced foreign body reaction. However, it is challenging to integrate our functional polymers onto these electronic devices, as their biofunction groups are fragile and easily damaged during the device fabrication. What we focus on here is to develop an optimized polymer-device integration strategy, which combining electro-deposition and vapor-deposition with the traditional UV lithography technology. We are also interested in the printing approach with considering its cheap and mass production.

Flexible biological & Chemical Sensors

Wearable biological & chemical sensors enable the real-time monitoring of mental and physical health of wearers and toxic chemicals in the environment and protect the individuals who work under extreme conditions. Our approach is to use our functional conducting polymer materials to functionalize the flexible electrochemical or resistant sensor arrays, and finally integrate them with flexible electronic circuit with the help of our cooperators.

Blood Electro-Chips

What we are interested in is combining our functional conducting polymers with microfluidic devices to enable the on-chip monitoring of blood components.