EAGER: Exploiting Superior Electrochemical Characteristics of Scaled PEDOT:PSS Microelectrode Arrays for High Fidelity Electrocorticography

摘要非技术性：脑活动的电生理临床标测具有高空间分辨率和高灵敏度，取代了其他非侵入性技术，如功能磁共振成像(FMRI)。对于大量对药物没有反应或有副作用的神经系统疾病患者来说，这一临床程序很重要，例如在药物难治性癫痫中。它在脑机接口方面也有很好的应用前景。大多数电生理设备使用贵金属作为与脑组织的接触界面，这些金属电极通过表面氧化还原反应或电容电荷屏蔽来检测离子电流和电位。另一方面，有机电极对离子具有渗透性，并允许体积氧化还原反应和大脑活动的电容耦合。这种优越的电化学性能使有机电极能够分解大脑的微小电位，这对更好地理解和治疗神经疾病具有重要意义。但由于有机电极和将信号传输到外部世界的底层金属焊盘之间的结合界面不稳定，它们的优越特性随着时间的推移而褪色。该项目旨在通过开发新的制造工艺来提高这些有机电极的稳定性，使其优越的性能可以延长几年。技术：该项目结合了电子材料加工、人体电生理记录和数据分析方面的专业知识，以开发新的几何形状的聚(3，4-乙二氧基噻吩基)聚苯乙烯磺酸盐微电极。可以产生最低的电化学阻抗和最高的电化学稳定性的器件几何形状将被开发出来，并通过体外加速老化实验来表征。当微电极在高温下浸泡在盐水溶液中时，将在几个星期的过程中监测阻抗和循环电流-电压特性。表面和横截面扫描电子显微镜和原子力显微镜将被用来评估这些微电极的形态稳定性，并将为器件制造提供信息，以形成稳定的界面。这项研究与一项针对学生的教育计划相结合，重点是生物医学植入设备以及新兴的神经技术领域。该计划包括为本科生和研究生提供广泛的教育和培训计划，重点是少数民族、女性和其他代表性不足的群体。如果成功，这些设备将广泛影响我们理解大脑的方式，诊断大脑的病变区域，并推动脑植入物的开发，可能会向更广泛的社会人群开放获取此类信息的途径。

Abstract Nontechnical: Electrophysiological clinical mapping of brain activity has high spatial resolution and high sensitivity that supersedes other noninvasive techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This clinical procedure is important for a large population of patients with neurological disorders that either do not respond to drugs or have adverse side effects such as in medically intractable epilepsy. It also has promising applications in brain-machine interfaces. The majority of electrophysiological devices utilize noble metals as the contact interface with brain tissue, and these metal electrodes detect ionic currents and potentials by either surface redox reactions or capacitive charge screening. Organic electrodes on the other hand are permeable to ions and allow volumetric redox reactions and capacitive coupling of brain activity. This superior electrochemical performance allows organic electrodes to resolve minute potentials from the brain which has implications for better understanding and treatment of neurological diseases. But their superior characteristics fade with time due to instability of the bonding interface between the organic electrode and the underlying metal pads that carry the signals to the outside world. This project aims at improving the stability of these organic electrodes by developing novel fabrication procedures that can extend their superior performance for several years. Technical: This project combines expertise in electronic materials processing, electrophysiological recording from humans, and data analysis in order to develop new geometries of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate microelectrodes. Device geometries that can result in the lowest electrochemical impedances and highest electrochemical stability will be developed and characterized with accelerated aging experiments in-vitro. Impedance and cyclic current-voltage characterization will be monitored over the course of several weeks while the microelectrodes are immersed in saline solution at high temperatures. Surface and cross-section scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy will be utilized to assess the morphological stability of these microelectrodes and will inform the device fabrication to develop stable interfaces. The research is integrated with an educational plan for students with a central focus on biomedical implant devices as well as on the burgeoning field of neuro-technology. The plan includes extensive education and training programs for undergraduate and graduate students, with an emphasis on minority, female, and other underrepresented groups. If successful, the devices will broadly impact how we understand the brain, diagnose diseased regions of the brain, and advance the development of brain implants potentially opening access to such information to broader societal populations.