A flexible solid-state supercapacitor based on vapor phase polymerized (VPP) PEDOT into cellulose paper matrix (PEDOT/CP) was successfully fabricated. The PEDOT/CP composite material worked as both current collector and electrode in constructed test cells. It had a low sheet resistance of 14 Ω/square and survived the Scotch tape test for adhesion. It also showed excellent stability with no significant conductivity drop after 1000 cycles of bending. The PEDOT from electrode obtained the mass specific capacitance of 179 F/g at scan rate of 10 mV/s, which was among the highest specific capacitances ever reported. This high capacitance was attributed to the combination of the VPP technique and the porous fibrous structure of the cellulose matrix. The EDOT vapor penetrated and polymerized through the CP matrix made of nanometer to micrometer level CP fibers. The highest electrode volumetric capacitance achieved was 13.7 F/cm3. The whole device achieved an energy density of 0.76 mWh/cm3 and a power density of 0.01 W/cm3. Bending the supercapacitor to 90° or rotating to 45° caused no major change in capacitance. Owing to the all nonmetallic materials used to construct the supercapacitor, it can be easily disposed. The incineration of the supercapacitor does not release significant hazardous exhaust.

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The rewarding and reinforcing effects of abused drugs are thought to be mediated by their ability to increase brain dopamine levels. The canon holds that all drugs of abuse increase dopamine release in a brain region called the nucleus accumbens (NAc) but, due to the temporal constraints of previously available neurochemical techniques, it remains unknown how distinct drugs of abuse alter dopamine release in real time. A real time assessment is important due to the nature by which dopamine neurons fire. In awake and behaving rats, dopamine neurons fire in two distinct patterns. At ‘rest,’ dopamine neurons fire in a low‐frequency pacemaker fashion that is thought to produce a tone on high‐affinity dopamine receptors in the NAc. When presented with motivationally relevant stimuli, dopamine neurons fire in high‐frequency bursts. The phasic bursts of dopamine neural activity contribute to the generation of subsecond release events in the NAc that are sufficient in concentration to occupy low‐affinity dopamine receptors. As the activation of these low‐affinity receptors is thought to be particularly important in strengthening action‐outcome associations, we are especially interested in investigating how drugs of abuse alter their patterns of release. Fast‐scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) allows for the detection of dopamine release events with a temporal resolution of milliseconds, making it an ideal tool with which to examine how drugs of abuse alter transient dopamine release events in real time. We obtain two primary dependent measures of dopamine release, the frequency at which they occur and the total concentration of each event.Here, we are using FSCV to compare how different drugs of abuse alter the frequency and amplitude of dopamine release events in the awake and behaving rat. Drugs of investigation include: ethanol, diazepam, zolpidem, WIN55,212‐2, methamphetamine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and heroin. Preliminary data show that the sedative‐hypnotics ethanol, diazepam and zolpidem all increase the frequency but decrease the amplitude of dopamine release events; although the ethanol amplitude effect is biphasic. Heroin, the synthetic cannabinoid WIN55,212‐2, and the psychostimulant methamphetamine increase both the frequency and amplitude of dopamine release events. The psychostimulant and tryptamine psychedelic MDMA increases the amplitude of dopamine release events but not their frequency. Together, these data reveal that the effects of abused drugs on transient dopamine release events varies across drug classes.Support or Funding InformationFunding for this work was provided by NSF grant IOS‐1557755, NIH grant R03DA038734, Boettcher Young Investigator Award and NARSAD Young Investigator Award to EBOThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.