Ferlauto Laura, D'Angelo Antonio Nunzio, Vagni Paola, Airaghi Leccardi Marta Jole Ildelfonsa, Mor Flavio Maurizio, Cuttaz Estelle Annick, Heuschkel Marc Olivier, Stoppini Luc, Ghezzi Diego
Medtronic Chair in Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Institute of Bioengineering, School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.
Tissue Engineering Laboratory, HEPIA, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO), Geneva, Switzerland.
Front Neurosci. 2018 Sep 19;12:648. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00648. eCollection 2018.
Reducing the mechanical mismatch between the stiffness of a neural implant and the softness of the neural tissue is still an open challenge in neuroprosthetics. The emergence of conductive hydrogels in the last few years has considerably widened the spectrum of possibilities to tackle this issue. Nevertheless, despite the advancements in this field, further improvements in the fabrication of conductive hydrogel-based electrodes are still required. In this work, we report the fabrication of a conductive hydrogel-based microelectrode array for neural recording using a hybrid material composed of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate), and alginate. The mechanical properties of the conductive hydrogel have been investigated using imaging techniques, while the electrode arrays have been electrochemically characterized at each fabrication step, and successfully validated both and . The presence of the conductive hydrogel, selectively electrodeposited onto the platinum microelectrodes, allowed achieving superior electrochemical characteristics, leading to a lower electrical noise during recordings. These findings represent an advancement in the design of soft conductive electrodes for neuroprosthetic applications.
减少神经植入物的刚度与神经组织的柔软度之间的机械不匹配仍然是神经假体领域一个尚未解决的挑战。导电水凝胶在过去几年的出现大大拓宽了解决这一问题的可能性范围。然而，尽管该领域取得了进展，但基于导电水凝胶的电极制造仍需进一步改进。在这项工作中，我们报告了一种用于神经记录的基于导电水凝胶的微电极阵列的制造，该阵列使用由聚（3,4-乙撑二氧噻吩） - 聚（苯乙烯磺酸盐）和藻酸盐组成的混合材料。使用成像技术研究了导电水凝胶的机械性能，同时在每个制造步骤对电极阵列进行了电化学表征，并成功验证了两者。选择性电沉积在铂微电极上的导电水凝胶的存在使得能够实现优异的电化学特性，从而在记录期间降低电噪声。这些发现代表了用于神经假体应用的软导电电极设计的进步。
