cenchempics:SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE LAB This image may look torn from the pages of a horror n
cenchempics: SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE LAB This image may look torn from the pages of a horror novel, but it actually depicts a possible new manufacturing method for electronic devices that work with living tissues. A team at Georgia Tech is studying the use of protein biofilms to direct the orderly formation of semiconducting polymer chains. Greater order in the chains could mean better and more predictable electronic properties for devices such as biocompatible sensors or electrodes. The researchers mixed poly(3-hexylthiophene) with a fungal protein called cerato-ulmin in the solvent 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene. As the proteins assembled into biofilms, the polymer collected in stable microstructures (dark areas above). These structures over time formed spindly branches, which slowly budded to release polymer-containing capsules. The team is now working on understanding and controlling the details of this process. The resemblance to Stephen Gammell’s illustrations from the book series “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” is a happy accident. Credit: Chem. Mater. 2015, DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b04192 -- source link
#materials science#science#biomaterials#semiconductors#polymers#microstructures#magnified view