Engineered bio-hybrid photo-electrode surface based on semiconducting polymers and carbon nanotubes for living cells photo-capacitive stimulation

Semiconducting polymers are increasingly exploited in biomedical application. Here we optimized a bio-hybrid photo-electrode surface based on a conjugated polymer thin film combined with nanomaterials, namely carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The CNT-modified photo-electrode shows an increased roughness of 70% and offers a quadrupled capacitance, as compared to the standard photo-electrode. A completely capacitive coupling between semiconducting polymers and living cells is the ideal scenario in bioelectronics. Thus, the presented CNT-modified photo-electrode adds a great value for opto-electrical biological systems stimulation.