Plesse Cédric

The theme of stimulable materials for the conversion of electrochemical energy into mechanical work ("actuators") can be integrated into Respore along 2 main axes:

• First, these systems are based on the use of electronic conductive polymers (ECPs) that can be oxidized and reduced and have a concomitant change in volume. This electromechanical response involves the movement (insertion and expulsion) of ions within the PCE. PCEs are therefore mixed conductive nanoporous structures (electronic and ionic) that must be studied to understand the relationship of these systems to the macromolecular structure, their morphology and their energy conversion properties.
• The second aspect is that these PCEs can be integrated into three-dimensional microporous gels (hydrogels, ionogels) such as electrospinning or polyHIPE (microcellular emulsion with high internal phase concentration). The resulting stimulable 3D structures are intended for cell culture and more precisely for mechanotransduction. Indeed, it becomes possible here to electrically and mechanically stimulate cells (stem or not) cultured within them in order to mimic the various signals generally observed in vivo within the extracellular matrix for a large number of cells (cardiomyocytes, muscle cells, neurons, etc.)