Stretchable and transparent metal nanowire microelectrodes for simultaneous electrophysiology and optogenetics applications

Jinbi Tian, Zexu Lin, Zhiyuan Chen, Sofian N. Obaid, Igor R. Efimov, Luyao Lu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Recently developed optically transparent microelectrode technology provides a promising approach for simultaneous high-resolution electrical and optical biointerfacing with tissues in vivo and in vitro. A critically unmet need is designing high-performance stretchable platforms for con-formal biointerfacing with mechanically active organs. Here, we report silver nanowire (Ag NW) stretchable transparent microelectrodes and interconnects that exhibit excellent electrical and electrochemical performance, high optical transparency, superior mechanical robustness and durability by a simple selective-patterning process. The fabrication method allows the direct integration of Ag NW networks on elastomeric substrates. The resulting Ag NW interface exhibits a low sheet resistance (Rsh ) of 1.52–4.35 Ω sq−1, an advantageous normalized electrochemical impedance of 3.78–6.04 Ω cm2, a high optical transparency of 61.3–80.5% at 550 nm and a stretchability of 40%. The microelectrode arrays (MEAs) fabricated with this approach exhibit uniform electrochemical performance across all channels. Studies on mice demonstrate that both pristine and stretched Ag NW microelectrodes can achieve high-fidelity electrophysiological monitoring of cardiac activity with/without co-localized optogenetic pacing. Together, these results pave the way for developing stretchable and transparent metal nanowire networks for high-resolution opto-electric biointerfacing with mechanically active organs, such as the heart.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number220
JournalPhotonics
Volume8
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2021

Funding

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation (ECCS 2011093), National Institutes of Health (R21HL152324, 3OT2OD023848 and R01HL141470), Leducq Foundation grant RHYTHM, the George Washington University Cross-Disciplinary Research Fund, University Facilitat-ing Fund from the George Washington University, and the George Washington University COVID-19 Research Fund.

Keywords

  • Electrophysiology
  • Nanowire
  • Optogenetics
  • Stretchable
  • Transparent microelectrodes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Instrumentation
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging

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