Direct ink writing of PEDOT eutectogels as substrate-free dry electrodes for electromyography

Abstract

Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) are a new class of ionic conductive compounds attracting significant attention as greener alternatives to costly ionic liquids. Herein, we developed novel mixed ionic-electronic conducting materials by simple mixing of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) and various DES as additives. The DES addition induces the supramolecular assembly and gelification of PEDOT:PSS forming eutectogels triggered by extensive hydrogen bonding and charge stabilization. The eutectogels feature boosts the mixed ionic–electronic conductivity of PEDOT:PSS up to 368 S cm⁻¹, unveiling great potential as flexible bioelectronics. All the PEDOT:PSS/DES gels showed shear-thinning behavior and viscosity values ranging from 100 to 1000 Pa s. The eutectogels show good injectability with almost instantaneous elastic recovery, making them ideal materials for direct ink writing (DIW). As proof of that, PEDOT:PSS/DES (choline chloride:lactic acid) was 3D printed in different patterns, annealed at high temperature, and assembled into adhesive electrodes. This way tattoos-like electrodes, denoted as Eutecta2 were fabricated and placed in vivo on the forearm and the thumb of human volunteers for electromyography measurements. Eutecta2 hexagonal patterns showed excellent conformability, and their signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was higher than Ag/AgCl commercial electrodes for thumb motion measurements. Furthermore, forearm motion was measured after 14 days with similar values of SNR, demonstrating long-term stability and reusability. All in all, our findings revealed that DES could be used as inexpensive and safe additives to direct the self-assembly of PEDOT:PSS into supramolecular eutectogels inks for flexible bioelectronics.