LAUSR

Optoelectronic biointerfaces have made a significant impact on modern science and technology from understanding the mechanisms of the neurotransmission to the recovery of the vision for blinds. They were based on the cell interfaces made of organic or inorganic materials such as silicon, graphene, oxides, quantum dots and π-conjugated polymers, which are dry and stiff unlike a cell/tissue environment. On the other side, wet and soft hydrogels have recently been started to attract significant attention for bioelectronics because of its high-level tissue-matching biomechanics and biocompatibility. However, it is challenging to obtain optimal opto-bioelectronic devices by using hydrogels requiring device, heterojunction and hydrogel engineering. Here, an optoelectronic biointerface integrated with a poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) hydrogel that simultaneously achieves efficient, flexible, stable, biocompatible, and safe photostimulation of cells is demonstrated. Beside their interfacial tissue-like biomechanics, ∼34 kPa, and high-level biocompatibility, hydrogel-integration facilitated an increase of charge injection amounts 7-folds with an improved responsivity of 156 mA/W, stability under mechanical bending cycles, and functional lifetime over 3 years. Finally, these devices enable stimulation of individual hippocampal neurons and photocontrol of beating frequency of cardiac myocytes via safe charge-balanced capacitive currents. Therefore, hydrogel-enabled optoelectronic biointerfaces hold great promise for next-generation wireless neural and cardiac implants. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.