During the outgoing phase of the Fellowship, a new sensors architecture was designed that has the potential to address the above-mentioned objectives. The project work led to the discovery of a intrinsically and fully stretchable polymer semiconductor that can operate without a loss of performance even when exposed to strains >50%. This is a significant finding and has implications beyond the original project scope. The results are novel and have significant impact in the community and beyond such that they are currently submitted for publication. The new polymer class described above could be used in a newly developed sensor architecture that is based on a transistor design with a polar, ionic elastomer dielectric which is highly stable in analyte solutions (such as water, biological buffer solutions). The polar dielectric forms an electric double layer making it highly sensitive while simultaneously encapsulating the device against the analyte solution. By specific functionalization, the design can be made highly selective to specific analytes such as proteins, RNA, DNA, PH etc. with long term stability enabling health monitoring applications. The long-term stability of the architecture has been demonstrated and its functionality as a sensor has been shown with the proof of concept protein BSA.
During the return phase, the architecture has been further optimized and a range of stability and reliability checks have been conducted. The architecture is now capable of reliably detecting biomarkers in various environments with a sensitivity of 1mV. The next step represents the use of the designed architecture for the sensing of cortisol, which is currently done in continous cooperation with Stanford University. The results achieved thus far, are currently being prepared for publication. Further follow up results based on the designed architecture are expected over the next years.
