Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is an elastomeric material with many properties well-suited for biomedical applications, resulting in its extensive use in medical devices. These properties include, but are not limited to, physiological inertness, biocompatibility, a high extensibility, large coefficient of thermal expansion, and chemical and thermal stability. Furthermore, PDMS can be physically or chemically modified to create composite materials comprising nanomaterials such as graphene or inorganic nanoparticles, carbonaceous materials or even organic dyes. The incorporation of these additives into the PDMS host broadens its functional properties and improves its electrical conductivity, optical absorption, thermal conductivity, or anti-microbial properties.

The simplicity with which PDMS properties are tuned can be exploited to fabricate highly tailored medical sensors such as all-optical ultrasound imaging devices and strain sensors. Fabrication techniques range from simple methods such as swell-encapsulation for incorporating functional materials to highly precise device molding techniques such as nano- and microscale imprinting.

The goal of this collection is to explore fabrication methods used to fabricate PDMS sensors and imaging devices and see how these methods might be applied to solve different challenges in biomedical science.