Design and Development of Biocompatible, Flexible, and Biodegradable Collagen-Based Organic Field-Effect Transistors

Organic electronics are rapidly advancing, driven by innovative materials and device design strategies that can enhance both mechanical robustness and device performance, thereby broadening their potential applications. The emergence of skin-like electronics has positioned devices such as thin film transistors as promising candidates for various applications, including biosensing, bioelectronics and regenerative medicine. Despite these promising developments, achieving stretchable and deformable organic electronics that are also biocompatible and degradable upon demand remains a considerable challenge. In this work, we developed a flexible, biocompatible, and degradable organic field-effect transistor (OFET) through the integration of a degradable substrate, a high-performance semiconducting polymer, and collagen─one of the main components of human skin. The resulting devices demonstrated both excellent electronic properties and favorable mechanical properties, with the devices retaining their characteristics under various bending strains and after multiple bending cycles. Additionally, to explore the degradability, we subjected the devices to controlled conditions, achieving approximately 48% mass loss within a few days. Biocompatibility assessments were conducted using human embryonic kidney cells, with cell viability tests confirming the compatibility of the devices and their individual components. Overall, our findings underscore the potential of collagen-based organic electronics for advancing deformable bioelectronics, combining key features such as biocompatibility and degradability to address critical needs in this emerging field.