Gallium Based Mechanically Adaptable Microelectrode Arrays

新一代机械适应性微电极项目总结 植入式微电极是理解基本电生理学的重要工具。虽然 在过去的几十年里，在电极设计方面取得了长足的进步，目前 由于以下原因，设备仍无法在生理环境中长时间保留其功能 失败与电极和组织的机械性能之间的惊人不匹配有关。 在柔性可植入电极的开发方面已经做出了重大的研究努力。然而， 柔性电极在插入过程中会弯曲，需要坚硬的梭子/涂层才能穿透目标 组织植入的并发症严重阻碍了软组织的实际使用 植入式电极。在这个项目中，我们将采取创新的材料方法来开发新的一类 温度响应性和机械适应性介于室温和生理之间的微电极 温度。我们将利用镓独特的热/机械/电性能来设计一种 机械可适应的电极阵列。在1大气压下，镓的独特熔点为29.36°C。 这表明，在室温下，镓将是刚性固体(杨氏模数为10 Gpa)和液体(NO 机械强度)在体温下。我们的目标是开发一种热拉伸工艺，以创建 镓/聚合物核壳结构，组装成微电极阵列。我们将评估 其机械性能、电化学性能、体内信号记录能力和生物相容性 镓基微电极阵列。

Project Summary: Next Generation Mechanically Adaptable Microelectrode Implantable microelectrodes are essential tools for understanding basic electrophysiology. Although considerable progress has been made in the past several decades in terms of electrode design, the current devices are still unable to retain their functionalities in a physiological environment over long periods, due to failure is related to the staggering mismatch between the mechanical properties of the electrodes and tissue. There have been significant research efforts in the development of flexible implantable electrodes. However, the flexible electrode will buckle during insertion and require rigid shuttle/coating to penetrate the targeted issue The complications of tissue insertion has significantly hindered the practical usage of the flexible implantable electrodes. In this project, we will take an innovative material approach to develop a new class of thermo-responsive and mechanically adaptable microelectrode between room temperature and physiological temperature. We will harness the unique thermal/mechanical/electrical properties of gallium to design a mechanically adaptable electrode array. Gallium has a unique melting point of 29.36 °C at 1 atm pressure. This indicates gallium will be a rigid solid at room temperature (Young's modulus of 10 GPa) and a liquid (no mechanical strength) at body temperature. We aim to develop a thermal drawing process to create gallium/polymer core-shell structure and assemble the structures into microelectrode array. We will assess the mechanical properties, electrochemical performance, in vivo signal recording ability, and biocompatibility of the gallium-based microelectrode arrays.