In vitro evaluation of carbon nanotube fiber and carbon fiber for multimodal neural interface

Abstract:
Cortical neural and visual nerve prostheses require chronically implanted small-area microelectrodes that can simultaneously record and stimulate the electrical brain signal. Various kinds of carbon-based materials are used as novel implantable neural electrodes. This study evaluates and compares two types of carbon-based materials: carbon nanotube fiber (CNTF) vs carbon fiber (CF) microelectrodes in detail. Given that all of the in vitro aspects had been discussed here (surface morphology, mechanical property comparison and electrochemical characterization), CNTF shows much better performance as long-term implantable multimodal neural interfaces than CF. This work may be beneficial to the selection of a certain carbon-based material related to detection of neurotransmitter, continuous electrophysiological recording/ stimulation and other neurophysiological or biomedical engineering related studies.