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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"><img width="600" height="171" id="Picture_x0020_2" alt="Dissertation Defense Announcement at the Cullen College of Engineering" src="cid:image001.png@01D85328.81EB0510" style="width:6.25in; height:1.7812in"></span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:18.0pt; font-family:'Times New Roman',serif; color:#C8102E">Fabrication and Characterization of Tunable Conducting Polymer Micro- and Nano-Structures for Bioelectronics</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"></span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:13.5pt; font-family:'Times New Roman',serif; color:black">Anthony Michael Kisucky</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif; color:black">April 25, 2022; 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM (CST)<br>
Zoom: <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://uh-edu-cougarnet.zoom.us/j/95347192009?pwd=RDFCQzNQOTZKNldmL01NQ042cVFhQT09__;!!LkSTlj0I!HmI_4_0mASg9Oy3zn3yhNQmU9R3NpCt2dJHEZKBeqRTaERUempuLaAWfsbNYL54Ovwlvd7ScOP20cnSX8RyctGAB$">https://uh-edu-cougarnet.zoom.us/j/95347192009?pwd=RDFCQzNQOTZKNldmL01NQ042cVFhQT09</a></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif"></span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif; color:black">Committee Chair:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif; color:black"><br>
Mohammad Reza Abidian, Ph.D.</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif"></span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif; color:black">Committee Members:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif; color:black"><br>
Chandra Mohan, PhD | Joseph Francis, PhD | Sheereen Majd, PhD | Long Chang, PhD | VijayKrishna Raghunathan, PhD</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif"></span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif; color:#C8102E">Abstract</span></b><span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif"></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif; color:black">The three novel investigations comprising this dissertation focus tightly on detailing the relationship between conditions of electrochemical deposition and the properties of the resulting
CP films or microstructures. The first project elucidated the quantitative relationships between electrochemical deposition parameters and the surface nanostructure of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) and poly(pyrrole) (PPy) films doped with poly(styrene
sulfonate) (PSS), and demonstrates how physical and electrical properties can be reliably tuned through adjustments of deposition parameters. By developing a model of how CP film properties can be controlled by their deposition parameters, a “toolbox” of sorts
may be developed to ensure that PEDOT and PPy components in neural interface applications can most easily possess the most optimal parameters for their intended application.</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif"></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif; color:black"> The second project built upon some of the relationships discovered in the first, moving away from classical electrochemical “bath” modalities and using a hydrogel mediator
to allow for greater spatial freedom in electrodeposition of PPy:PSS films. Leveraging the relationship between deposition time and resultant film properties created a technique by which PPy:PSS films could be created with surface properties that change over
the length of the film. Linear and non-linear gradients of surface roughness were created, and are intended to synergize with the known influence of chemical gradients on axonal guidance.</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif"></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif; color:black"> The third project is a further refinement of the hydrogel modality into a system by which PPy:PSS can be electropolymerized in-situ along a path. Known informally as the
“gel pen”, this system behaves somewhat like a conventional 3d printer, and it incorporates all the film-property-control lessons learned from the previous two projects. Through the use of commercial software, rather than ad-hoc solutions as in prior projects,
this system can accept and execute arbitrary design files.</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif"></span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif; color:#C8102E"> </span></b><span style="font-size:10.5pt; font-family:'Arial',sans-serif"></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt; font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"><img width="600" height="82" id="Picture_x0020_1" alt="Engineered For What's Next" src="cid:image002.png@01D85328.81EB0510" style="width:6.25in; height:.8541in"></span></p>
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