Flexible, Transparent, and Mechanically Robust Ultrathin Au Electrode Array for Electro-Optical Neural Interfacing

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The transparent electro-optical neural electrode has the advantages of simultaneous high spatial resolution calcium recordings or microscopic imaging along with electrical recording and stimulation. During light-induced optogenetic modulation, the transparent neural electrode has excellent light transmission efficiency and can prevent distortion of signal caused by photoelectric artifacts. In this work, we fabricated an 8 nm-thick ultrathin Au metal electrode based on a polymer seed layer, which is beneficial to form a continuous metal film. Our electrode shows excellent optical transparency and mechanical flexibility owing to the lowered thickness. With the inkjet printing of PEDOT:PSS on neural recording sites, our electrode shows excellent electrochemical performance, maintaining transparency. We recorded brain surface signals in vivo while maintaining low RMS noise and high SNR. Also, our electrode shows lower light-induced artifacts thanthe conventional opaque electrode, within reasonable laser power density ranges for optogenetics modulation. This new fabrication concept of the transparent electrode has the high scalability to include electrodes for rollable displays, flexible solar cells, and ion sensing platforms that require long-term stability in aqueous solutions.