Neural interfaces engineered via micro- and nanostructured coatings

• Published in: Nano today 2017-06, Vol.14, p.59-83
• Main Authors: Chen, Nuan, Tian, Lingling, Patil, Anoop C., Peng, Shengjie, Yang, In Hong, Thakor, Nitish V., Ramakrishna, Seeram
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon; Conducting polymer; Electrode coating; Functionalization; Nanotechnology; Neural interface
• ISSN: 1748-0132; 1878-044X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nantod.2017.04.007

[Display omitted] •Electroactive nanostructured coatings build up a promising platform to bridge significant material mismatch at the neural interface.•The performance of different kinds of coating materials including metals, carbons, conducting polymers and composites are reviewed.•Typical methods for the fabrication of the neural electrode coating are discussed.•Recent developments of functionalized coating are highlighted.•The existing challenge and prospects of electrode coating are provided. During the past decade, neural interfaces have attracted great interest due to their potential of body-machine communication for disease diagnosis and therapy. Considering the significant material mismatch between the electrode implants and the native tissue, a thin coating is employed on the electrode sites as an intermediate layer to bridge the material differences and has been proved to play an important role in the promotion of neural cell attachment and signal transmission. Micro- and nanostructured coating materials, together with surface functionalization such as biological cues, provide not only high surface areas for signal transduction but also a biomimetic platform for the cells. In this paper, we review the performance of different kinds of micro- and nanostructured coating materials including metallic materials, carbon materials, conducting polymeric materials and composite materials and then complement the discussion with the influence of the fabrication process on the performance of the coatings. The coating could be functionalized by various advanced techniques, which are also reviewed. The existing challenge and future research directions of electrode coatings are briefly discussed at the end of the review.