PhD Doctorate Thesis : Synthesis and characterization of biobased and biocompatible ionic gels and ionoelastomers for piezoionic skin and ionotronics – LPPI, Cergy, University of British Columbia, Canada (10/03/2024)

The objective of this 3-years PhD project at LPPI (https://lppi.cyu.fr/) is the development of new air-stable and biocompatible ionic gels and ionoelastomers, based on biobased materials suitable for contact with human skin, for applications such as piezoionic skin and ionotronic devices. Biopolymers (alginate, hyaluronic acid, gelatin, κ-carrageenan, chitosan, agar…) will be combined with or modified by recently described biofriendly ionic liquids (choline lactate, choline acetate, …) or natural deep eutectic solvents. These materials will be synthesized and characterized to provide a better insight on the parameters ruling the piezoionic performances. The best candidate materials will be then optimized to be later integrated in devices such as piezoionic i-skin for soft robotic. The possibility to fabricate these materials by additive manufacturing (3D-printing) will be explored as well. The introduction of dynamic covalent bonds would be finally investigated in order to provide self-healing functionality to these emerging materials, pushing further their biomimetic features.

Publié le 10/03/2024