Organic semiconductors in different shapes and composition can be interfaced with living cells. This provides a new, exciting route towards optical control of physiological functions or the restoring of natural functions, e.g. vision. In this talk I will present a number of experiments that show the effective abiotic-biotic coupling of organic semiconductors with cells and small animals, suggesting the potential of organic light actuators for geneless opto stimulation. Investigated systems are all based on polythiophene as photoactive layer, in planar films, nanostructured layers or nanoparticles. Spectroscopy, photo-electrochemistry and photo-electrophysiology are exploited to carry out the experimental investigations. We report on photoluminescence in vivo of nanoparticles and other light actuators. While the mechanism explaining such coupling is still unknown, it is appearing that thermal, capacitive, faradaic or chemical coupling are all options to be carefully evaluated.
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