IONGELS: FROM NEW CHEMISTRY TOWARD EMERGING APPLICATIONS

Project Information

IONBIKE

Grant agreement ID: 823989

DOI

10.3030/823989

Project closed

EC signature date 26 October 2018

Start date 1 January 2019

End date 31 December 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 1 393 800,00

EU contribution

€ 1 127 000,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSIDAD DEL PAIS VASCO/ EUSKAL HERRIKO UNIBERTSITATEA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - IONBIKE (IONGELS: FROM NEW CHEMISTRY TOWARD EMERGING APPLICATIONS)

Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2023-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

IONGELS are a unique class of materials with properties which anticipate a great number of technological applications in emerging technologies in health. Iongels consists of an ionic liquid immobilized in a solid polymer network. Iongels are soft ionic materials which show great properties such as ionic conductivity, biocompatibility and stability. Iongels are perfect for bioelectronics application including wearable sensors, bioelectrodes for electrophysiology, electronic skin and organic electrochemical transistors OECTs. The EU-funded IONBIKE RISE project fostered a global collaboration involving the exchange of knowledge and staff to develop health and fitness monitoring devices based on these unique soft and stretchable conductive gels. These disruptive materials show a great promise in many important technologies not only in bioelectronics for health but also in energy applications such as battery or environment as gas membranes.

IONBIKE RISE partnership coordinated by POLYMAT-University of the Basque Country put together 4 European beneficiaries (3 academic and 1 industry) and 5 non- European academic partners aiming to fully develop the chemistry and applications of innovative iongels for
bioelectronics. The development of this topic needed the synergic participation of researchers with different expertises such as bio-ionic liquids, polymers, gels, advanced characterization, electrochemistry, biology as well as applications experts in bioelectronic devices such as implantable electrodes for electrophysiology, batteries and organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs). IONBIKE objective's were achieved through research and innovation staff exchanges and sharing of knowledge and ideas from research to market among the different institutions.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

IONBIKE developed an intensive research and networking program between European and non-European institutions in the area of new materials for bioelectronics. The scientific project tried to combine in a synergetic manner the unique technical expertises of the different nodes. World pioneers in the areas of ionic liquids, iongels, (semi)conducting polymers, advanced materials characterization and (bio)electronic devices will work together towards a common goal. In the first period of the project most of the efforts were devoted to the development of new materials and their characterizations, while the second was more focused on their application in bioelectronic devices.

The results obtained are summarized in the next bullet points:
• Synthesis and selection of components for innovative iongels such as bio-ionic liquids, deep-eutectic solvents, poly(ionic liquid)s, biodegradable polymers, functional biopolymers, semi-conjugated polymers and PEDOTs.
• Synthesis and characterization of biodegradable and/or biocompatible iongels.
• Synthesis of iongels endowed with mixed ionic-electronic conductivity by combining into a gel (semi)conjugated conducting polymers and ionic liquids.
• Structural, thermal, mechanical, morphological and functional (i.e. ionic conductivity, electronic conductivity) characterization of the new iongels.
• Processing of innovative iongels using advanced methods such as large scale printing, 3D printing and coating methods.
• Better understanding of the relationship between molecular composition/macromolecular structure, functionality and biodegradability of iongels.
• Application of iongels in bioelectronic devices for health and fitness, particularly in electrodes for electrophysiological recordings, long-lasting cutaneous electrophysiology, electroencephalography and heart-monitoring and other applications such as batteries, water purification or corrosion protection.
• Investigate the use of biodegradable iongels in bioelectronics devices such as organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs).

The IONBIKE consortium carried out more than 80% of the planned secondments, organised several training courses, conferences and the proposed networking events (e.g. BioEl2019 in UK, Asilomar Bioelectronics Symposium 2020 in USA, SLAP Latinamerican Symposium of Polymers 2022 in Spain, the Workshop on Organic semiconductors and flexible electronics 2022 in KAUST and BPC2022 Bordeaux Polymer Conference in France. Consortium partners have actively participated to several scientific community and public outreach dissemination activities. The originality of the new materials have made the dissemination activities (number and quality of scientific articles, presentations in conferences) to be high.

Project activities were widely communicated through the webpage and social networks of the project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The main progress beyond the state of the art have been:

- related to the materials development: a non-exhaustive list of materials progresses include innovative iongels combining biocompatibility, biodegradability and excellent ion and electronic conducting properties based on new biodegradable polymers, functional biopolymers, semi-conjugated polymers and PEDOTs.
- related to the applications of the iongels and its processing in bioelectronic devices: the final goal focused in the development of new devices using the disruptive iongel materials developed within the project. An important part of the efforts were related to the additive manufacturing 3D printing and process ability of the materials as well as its characterization.

IONBIKE RISE succeeded in the development of innovative bioelectronic devices for health and fitness monitoring such as long-lasting electrodes for electrophysiological recordings for brain, heart and muscular activity or new all-solid organic electrochemical transitors.

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