Chemically revised conducting polymers with inflammation resistance for intimate bioelectronic electrocoupling

Conducting polymers offer attractive mixed ionic-electronic conductivity, tunable interfacial barrier with metal, tissue matchable softness, and versatile chemical functionalization, making them robust to bridge the gap be-tween brain tissue and electronic circuits. This review focuses on chemically revised conducting polymers, combined with their superior and controllable electrochemical performance, to fabricate long-term bioelectronic implants, addressing chronic immune responses, weak neuron attraction, and long-term electrocommunication instability challenges. Moreover, the promising progress of zwitterionic conducting polymers in bioelectronic implants (>= 4 weeks stable implantation) is highlighted, followed by a comment on their current evolution to-ward selective neural coupling and reimplantable function. Finally, a critical forward look at the future of zwitterionic conducting polymers for in vivo bioelectronic devices is provided.

Automated summary

Conducting polymers with mixed ionic-electronic conductivity, tunable interfacial barrier, tissue matchable softness, and versatile chemical functionalization are used to bridge the gap between brain tissue and electronic circuits. This review focuses on chemically revised conducting polymers, their superior electrochemical performance, and their applications in fabricating long-term bioelectronic implants. The challenges of chronic immune responses, weak neuron attraction, and long-term electrocommunication instability are addressed, and the promising progress of zwitterionic conducting polymers is highlighted.