Fabrication of conductive gelatin methacrylate-polyaniline hydrogels.

Hydrogels with inherently conductive properties have been recently developed for tissue engineering applications, to serve as bioactive scaffolds to electrically stimulate cells and modulate their function. In this work, we have used interfacial polymerization of aniline monomers within gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) to develop a conductive hybrid composite. We demonstrate that as compared to pure GelMA, GelMA–polyaniline (GelMA–Pani) composite has similar swelling properties and compressive modulus, comparable cell adhesion and spreading responses, and superior electrical properties. Additionally, we demonstrate that GelMA–Pani composite can be printed in complex user-defined geometries using digital projection stereolithography, and will be useful in developing next-generation bioelectrical interfaces.