Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
The James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
Nat Mater. 2016 Sep;15(9):1023-30. doi: 10.1038/nmat4673. Epub 2016 Jun 27.
Silicon-based materials have widespread application as biophysical tools and biomedical devices. Here we introduce a biocompatible and degradable mesostructured form of silicon with multi-scale structural and chemical heterogeneities. The material was synthesized using mesoporous silica as a template through a chemical vapour deposition process. It has an amorphous atomic structure, an ordered nanowire-based framework and random submicrometre voids, and shows an average Young's modulus that is 2-3 orders of magnitude smaller than that of single-crystalline silicon. In addition, we used the heterogeneous silicon mesostructures to design a lipid-bilayer-supported bioelectric interface that is remotely controlled and temporally transient, and that permits non-genetic and subcellular optical modulation of the electrophysiology dynamics in single dorsal root ganglia neurons. Our findings suggest that the biomimetic expansion of silicon into heterogeneous and deformable forms can open up opportunities in extracellular biomaterial or bioelectric systems.
基于硅的材料作为生物物理工具和生物医学设备得到了广泛的应用。在这里，我们介绍了一种具有多尺度结构和化学异质性的生物相容性和可降解的介孔硅形式。该材料是通过使用介孔硅作为模板的化学气相沉积工艺合成的。它具有非晶态原子结构、有序的纳米线为基础的框架和随机的亚微米级空隙，并表现出比单晶硅小 2-3 个数量级的平均杨氏模量。此外，我们利用异质硅介孔结构设计了一种由脂质双层支撑的生物电接口，该接口可以远程控制和暂时瞬变，并允许对单个背根神经节神经元的电生理动力学进行非遗传和亚细胞的光学调制。我们的研究结果表明，硅的仿生扩展为异质和可变形形式提供了机会，可以在细胞外生物材料或生物电系统中得到应用。
