OECT for use in flexible electronics in healthcare for the management of underactive bladder syndrome

The development of flexible organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) arrays for dysfunctional bladder: The amalgamation of organic electronics with biology holds huge potential for the development of novel biomedical devices. OECT is one such promising device with benefits such as biocompatibility and high amplification properties leading to superior signal-to-noise ratio. Fabrication of OECTs on flexible substrates provides an ideal bio-interface that can be used for sensing biopotential signals from organs (J. Melgaard, N. Rijkhoff. 2014). OECT consist of an organic channel, which is in direct contact with an electrolyte. The injection of ions from the electrolyte into the channel is controlled through an applied biopotential signal. The recently developed assistive urinary device system for the management of underactive active bladder syndrome (F. A. Hassani et al., Sci. Adv. 2020, 6(18), eaba0412) can benefit greatly from OECTs, paving a way for rapid development of this type of medical device. The device is capable of complete voiding of the bladder following its fullness. Biopotential signals from bladder muscle can show the onset of bladder fullness. However, the small amplitude of signals as well as extreme changes in bladder volume during storage and voiding of urine, makes the detection extremely difficult. The novel integration of an array of flexible OECTs with the assistive device can overcome this hurdle and provide accurate biomimetic detection of bladder volume for on-time bladder management. The objective of this project is to design and fabricate an assistive actuation device which incorporates OECTs to monitor and assist in urination in in vitro and in vivo experiments. This project falls within the EPSRC healthcare technologies research area - the current treatment method of underactive bladder syndrome is a urinary catheter which often leaves the patient mentally and physically debilitated. Creating an assistive urinary device aims to tackle these issues by providing a long-term sensing and controlling capability to help the user re-establish function and control enabling them to live a somewhat normal functioning lifestyle, while furthering the field of bioelectronic devices.