Microbarrier-confined droplet bilayers on PEDOT:PSS enable high-resistance, dynamically addressable bioelectronic
Essraa A Hussein1, Beliz Utebay2,3, Emily A Schafer4
1Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA. ssarles@utk.edu.
Abstract:
No existing platform simultaneously achieves gigaohm-range membrane resistance, chip-compatible conductive polymer integration, and post-formation analyte exchange in a lipid bilayer device. Here, we present a 3D-printed microbarrier architecture that closes this capability gap by confining and stabilizing a droplet-PEDOT:PSS lipid bilayer on a chip-integrated conductive polymer electrode. The platform decouples droplet volume from bilayer area, yields average membrane resistances of 1.8 ± 1.5 GΩ (area-normalized: 1.3 × 106 Ω cm2)-a 3-4 order-of-magnitude improvement over conventional PEDOT:PSS-supported supported lipid bilayers-and permits robust aqueous analyte exchange without compromising membrane integrity. These properties are achieved simultaneously for the first time on a conductive polymer substrate, enabling low-noise ion channel measurements, dynamic membrane functionalization, and a clear path toward chip-integrated bioelectronic sensing and neuromorphic device applications.
