BioMEMS-Lab, Department of Engineering, University of Applied Sciences Aschaffenburg, Aschaffenburg, Germany.
Biointerphases. 2012 Dec;7(1-4):58. doi: 10.1007/s13758-012-0058-2. Epub 2012 Sep 7.
Low impedance at the interface between tissue and conducting electrodes is of utmost importance for the electrical recording or stimulation of heart and brain tissue. A common way to improve the cell-metal interface and thus the signal-to-noise ratio of recordings, as well as the charge transfer for stimulation applications, is to increase the electrochemically active electrode surface area. In this paper, we propose a method to decrease the impedance of microelectrodes by the introduction of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), offering an extremely rough surface. In a multistage process, an array of multiple microelectrodes covered with high quality, tightly bound CNTs was realized. It is shown by impedance spectroscopy and cardiac myocyte recordings that the transducer properties of the carbon nanotube electrodes are superior to conventional gold and titanium nitride electrodes. These findings will be favorable for any kind of implantable heart electrodes and electrophysiology in cardiac myocyte cultures.
在组织和导电电极之间的界面处实现低阻抗对于心脏和脑组织的电记录或刺激至关重要。一种常见的方法是增加电化学活性电极表面积，从而改善细胞-金属界面，提高记录的信噪比以及刺激应用的电荷转移。在本文中，我们提出了一种通过引入碳纳米管（CNT）来降低微电极阻抗的方法，从而提供极其粗糙的表面。通过多步工艺，实现了具有高质量、紧密结合 CNT 的多个微电极阵列。阻抗谱和心肌细胞记录表明，碳纳米管电极的换能器特性优于传统的金和氮化钛电极。这些发现将有利于任何类型的可植入心脏电极和心肌细胞培养中的电生理学。
