PMID-25803728 Neural stimulation and recording with bidirectional, soft carbon nanotube fiber microelectrodes.
- Poulin et al. demonstrated that microelectrodes made solely of CNT fibers22 show remarkable electrochemical activity, sensitivity, and resistance to biofouling compared to conventional carbon fibers when used for bioanalyte detection in vitro.23-25
- Fibers were insulated with 3 um of block copolymer polystyrene-polybutadiene (PS-b-PBD) (polybutadiene is sythetic rubber)
- Selected for good properties of biocompatibility, flexibility, resistance to flextural fatigue.
- Available from Sigma-Aldrich.
- Custom continuous dip-coating process.
- 18um diameter, 15 - 20 x lower impedance than equivalently size PtIr.
- 2.5 - 6x lower than W.
- In practice, 43um dia, 1450um^2, impedance of 11.2 k; 12.6um, 151k.
- Charge storage capacity 327 mC / cm^2; PtIr = 1.2 mC/cm^2
- Wide water window of -1.5V - 1.5V, consistent with noble electrochemical properties of C.
- Lasts for over 97e6 pulsing cycles beyond the water window, vs 43e6 for PEDOT.
- Tested via 6-OHDA model of PD disease vs. standard PtIr stimulating electrodes, implanted via 100um PI shuttled attached with PEG.
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- Yes, debatable...
- Tested out to 3 weeks durability. Appear to function as well or better than metal electrodes.
PMID-23307737 Strong, light, multifunctional fibers of carbon nanotubes with ultrahigh conductivity.
- Dissolve high-quality, 5um long CNT in chlorosulfonic acid (the only known solvent for CNTs)
- Filter to remove particles
- Extrude liquid crystal dope through a spinneret, 65 or 130um orifice
- Into a coagulant, acetone or water
- Onto a rotating drum to put tension on the thread & align the CNTs.
- Wash in water and dry at 115C.
- Properties:
- Tensile strength 1 GPa +- 0.2 GPa.
- Tensile modulus 120 GPa +- 50, best value 200 GPa
- Pt: 168 GPa ; Au: 79 GPa.
- Elongation to break 1.4 %
- Conductivity: 0.3 MS/m, Iodine doped 5 +- 0.5 MS/m (22 +- 4 microhm cm)
- Cu: 59.6 MS/m ; Pt: 9.4 MS/m ; Au: 41 MS/m
- Electrical conductivity drops after annealing @ 600C
- But does not drop after kinking and repeated mechanical cycling.
- Theoretical modulus of MWCNT ~ 350 GPa.
- Fibers well-aligned at ~ 90% the density (measure 1.3 g/cc) of close-packed CNT.
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