Controlling the Surface Properties of an Inkjet-Printed Reactive Oxygen Species Scavenger for Flexible Bioelectronics Applications in Neural Resilience

Neural damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) can trigger several acute or chronic conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, and Parkinson’s diseases. However, ROS scavengers hold great promise for enabling DNA repair in neurons; damaged cells using ROS-scavenging agents may be able to recover their functionality and resilience. Moreover, in bioelectronics for neural applications, thin films with adequate properties are crucial for the proper performance of an electronic device. Therefore, precise and reliable deposition techniques that can control the characteristics of thin films are imperative when fabricating bioelectronic devices integrated with cellular systems. To that end, inkjet printing is a promising method with unique advantages such as computer-assisted protocols and efficient consumption of materials. We report the printing of a functional electronic material that exhibits ROS scavenging behavior (Manganese III 5, 10, 15, 20-tetra 4-pyridyl-21H, 23H-porphine chloride tetrakis methochloride) using a modified inkjet printer. Different printed pattern schemes that were designed based on the amount of overlap among sequential droplets were used to tune the surface morphology of the inkjet-printed thin films with a wide range of roughness (8.84 to 41.20 nm). Furthermore, post-printing processes (such as plasma treatment) were used to optimize surface energy. Such inkjet printing methods of functional electronic materials that can simultaneously be used as ROS scavengers, would advance bioelectronics applications in neural studies.