Recent advances in bioelectronics open a new avenue in material sciences to translate highly-specific functions of biological systems into opto-electric signals. During the past several decades, the traditional approaches in biosensing have been replaced by the development of new materials, such as high electron mobility organic semiconductors, bio-inspired hybrid materials, low-dimensional semiconductors functionalized with proteins. The material design could follow both top-down enforcement relying on modern techniques in lithographic patterning and micro-contact printing as well as bottom-up strategy utilizing molecular self-assembly. In contrast to conventional “dry” electronics, “bioelectronics” must be operated in aqueous electrolytes inevitably and thus the fine-adjustment of interfacial interactions with/in water is one of the key issues. The main focus of the forthcoming special issue is to present a comprehensive overview to our readers by assembling state-of-the-art research articles and reviews on advanced biomolecular electronics. This Special Issue welcomes contributions from versatile approaches, including synthesis of organic semiconductors that function in water, structure and dynamics of material/water interface, modulation of semiconductor band structures by bio-organic molecules, and realization of high throughput and/or parallel operation of biomolecular electronic devices.
Keywords: bio-inspired materials; bio/non-bio hybrids; organic semiconductors; low dimensional semiconductors; material/water interactions; micro/nano-fabrications; self-organizing systems.