Chemically Precise Framework Materials as a Modular Platform Technology for Electroanalysis

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Engineered tissue holds tremendous promise for improving health and quality of life of patients suffering from trauma, illness, or organ failure. Realizing the full benefits in tissue engineering requires improved fundamental understanding of homeostasis, metabolism, inflammation, and nutrient transport in engineered tissue, coupled with reliable and integrated quality control during the manufacturing process. By virtue of being modular, portable, capable of operating in real-time environments, as well as being amenable to non-invasive and label-free formats, a chemical quality control based on electroanalysis offers one plausible solution to this challenge. However, current electroanalytical devices do not allow for selective in-situ continuous chemical monitoring and reporting of performance in engineered 3D tissue scaffolds within enclosed bioreactors. Enabling the study of chemical processes of engineered tissue requires radically new sensing materials with improved chemical sensitivity, selectivity, chemical stability capable of straightforward integration with 3D tissue scaffolds. The overarching goal of this research is to develop conductive metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) as multifunctional sensing materials with broad potential utility in electroanalysis. The proposed technological approach to chemical detection offers unprecedented ability to generate atomically-precise electronic materials and devices with chemically-tunable electroanalytical performance. This MIRA application leverages bottom-up synthesis and self-assembly to develop sensitive and selective non-enzymatic porous working electrodes for gasotransmitters (CO, NO, H2S), nutrients and metabolites (glucose and lactate), and neurochemicals (ascorbic acid, uric acid, dopamine, and serotonin). The research plan implements a multidisciplinary approach comprising chemical synthesis, spectroscopic characterization, device integration, and electroanalysis to achieve three hierarchical levels of chemical control in molecular engineering of framework materials for chemical detection: (1) Atomic-level control of host-guest interactions through solvothermal synthesis and self-assembly; (2) Nanoscale control through morphological tuning of surface electrocatalysis; (3) Epitaxial control of electrochemical interfaces within solid-state, porous, and flexible devices. Conceptual and technological advances emerging from this work will serve as a vehicle to develop the proposed materials into novel components of future electroanalytical devices with transformative potential in tissue engineering, biomedical analysis, and patient- centered mobile healthcare.