A key challenge in bioelectronics is to establish and improve the interface between electronic devices and living tissues, enabling a direct assessment of biological systems. Sensors integrated with plant tissue can provide valuable information about the plant itself as well as the surrounding environment, including air and soil quality. An obstacle in developing interfaces to plant tissue is mitigating the formation of fibrotic tissues, which can hinder continuous and accurate sensor operation over extended timeframes. Electronic systems that utilize suitable biocompatible materials alongside appropriate fabrication techniques to establish plant-electronic interfaces could provide for enhanced environmental understanding and ecosystem management capabilities. To meet these demands, this study introduces an approach for integrating printed electronic materials with biocompatible cryogels, resulting in stable implantable hydrogel-based bioelectronic devices capable of long-term operation within plant tissue. These inkjet-printed cryogels can be customized to provide various electronic functionalities, including electrodes and organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), that exhibit high electrical conductivity for embedded conducting polymer traces (up to 350 S/cm), transconductance for OECTs in the mS range, a capacitance of up to 4.2 mF g⁻¹ in suitable structures, high stretchability (up to 330% strain), and self-healing properties. The biocompatible functionalized cryogel-based electrodes and transistors were successfully implanted in plant tissue, and ionic activity in tomato plant stems was collected for over two months with minimal scar tissue formation, making these cryogel-based printed electronic devices excellent candidates for continuous, in-situ monitoring of plant and environmental status and health.

生物电子学的一个关键挑战是建立和改进电子设备和活体组织之间的接口，从而能够直接评估生物系统。与植物组织集成的传感器可以提供有关植物本身以及周围环境的宝贵信息，包括空气和土壤质量。开发植物组织界面的一个障碍是减轻纤维化组织的形成，这可能会阻碍传感器在较长时间内连续、准确地运行。利用合适的生物相容性材料和适当的制造技术来建立植物-电子接口的电子系统可以增强对环境的理解和生态系统管理能力。为了满足这些需求，本研究引入了一种将印刷电子材料与生物相容性冷冻凝胶集成的方法，从而产生能够在植物组织内长期运行的稳定的可植入水凝胶生物电子设备。这些喷墨打印的冷冻凝胶可以定制，以提供各种电子功能，包括电极和有机电化学晶体管 (OECT)，它们对嵌入式导电聚合物迹线表现出高电导率（高达 350 S/cm），OECT 的跨导在 mS 范围内，在合适的结构中电容高达4.2 mF g ^-1，高拉伸性（高达330%应变）和自愈特性。生物相容性功能化的基于冷冻凝胶的电极和晶体管成功植入植物组织中，并且在两个多月的时间内收集了番茄植物茎中的离子活性，并且疤痕组织形成最少，使得这些基于冷冻凝胶的印刷电子设备成为连续、in-植物和环境状况及健康的现场监测。