Polyphosphonium-based bipolar membranes for rectification of ionic currents

Bipolar membranes (BMs) have interesting applications within the field of bioelectronics, as they may be used to create non-linear ionic components (e. g., ion diodes and transistors), thereby extending the functionality of, otherwise linear, electrophoretic drug delivery devices. However, BM based diodes suffer from a number of limitations, such as narrow voltage operation range and/or high hysteresis. In this work, we circumvent these problems by using a novel polyphosphonium-based BM, which is shown to exhibit improved diode characteristics. We believe that this new type of BM diode will be useful for creating complex addressable ionic circuits for delivery of charged biomolecules. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.