Studies on semiconducting polymer-electrolyte and conducting polymer-retinal tissue interfaces

Abstract

Two research problems. have been addressed in this thesis. Both the probleM.S. involve the use of Conjugated Polymers. The first problem undertaken revolves around the photoexcitation of a semiconducting polymer-liquid electrolyte system. The system has been probed using photo-voltage and photo-capacitance measurements. The second problem involves extracellular recordings of the light-evoked elec- trial activity from a mammalian retina. The aim is to study the changes induced in these signals when the properties of the recording electrodes are changed, precisely, when the recording electrodes are modified with a conducting polymer. The methods of study also include some basic noise analysis. Chapter 1 is a general introduction to the properties of conjugated polymers. It also includes a brief summary of the features of a semiconductor-electrolyte interface. Chapter 2 includes the experimental methods, results and analysis of the work done on semiconducting polymer-electrolyte devices. Chapter 3 is an introduction to the electrical signal processes in the retina and some basic concepts of the extracellular recording techniques. Chapter 4 summarizes the experiments and analysis of results obtained from the extracellular recordings of a retina using conducting polymer modified electrodes.