Carbon-Nanotube-Coated Surface Electrodes for Cortical Recordings In Vivo

Current developments of electrodes for neural recordings address the need of biomedical research and applications for high spatial acuity in electrophysiological recordings. One approach is the usage of novel materials to overcome electrochemical constraints of state-of-the-art metal contacts. Promi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-04, Vol.11 (4), p.1029
Main Authors: Foremny, Katharina, Konerding, Wiebke S, Behrens, Ailke, Baumhoff, Peter, Froriep, Ulrich P, Kral, Andrej, Doll, Theodor
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acuity
Auditory evoked potentials
Biocompatibility
Biomedical materials
Carbon
Carbon nanotubes
Coated electrodes
Coatings
Cortex (auditory)
Electrochemistry
Electrodes
Etching
flexible electrode
Gold
Guinea pigs
in vivo
Medical research
Nanotechnology
Nanotubes
Noise
Rubber
silicone composite
Silicone resins
Silicone rubber
Silicones
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Summary:Current developments of electrodes for neural recordings address the need of biomedical research and applications for high spatial acuity in electrophysiological recordings. One approach is the usage of novel materials to overcome electrochemical constraints of state-of-the-art metal contacts. Promising materials are carbon nanotubes (CNTs), as they are well suited for neural interfacing. The CNTs increase the effective contact surface area to decrease high impedances while keeping minimal contact diameters. However, to prevent toxic dissolving of CNTs, an appropriate surface coating is required. In this study, we tested flexible surface electrocorticographic (ECoG) electrodes, coated with a CNT-silicone rubber composite. First, we describe the outcome of surface etching, which exposes the contact nanostructure while anchoring the CNTs. Subsequently, the ECoG electrodes were used for acute in vivo recordings of auditory evoked potentials from the guinea pig auditory cortex. Both the impedances and the signal-to-noise ratios of coated contacts were similar to uncoated gold contacts. This novel approach for a safe application of CNTs, embedded in a surface etched silicone rubber, showed promising results but did not lead to improvements during acute recordings.
ISSN:2079-4991
2079-4991
DOI:10.3390/nano11041029