A new 3D printing technique enables manufacturers to properly tailor carbon microelectrodes utilized as biomedical implants. The implants are utilized to register signals from the nervous system or brain.
Image source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Researchers at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences created implantable probes. The probes were shaped similar to cones and spheres. By putting probes in a rat’s brain, they were able to, fortunately, watch the way the rat’s brain discharged dopamine.
What is the impact of this?
Existing manufacturing techniques for microelectrodes restrict the forms and sizes that firms can produce. The methods are also not properly matched for full-scale manufacturing. 3D printing methods may extend the chances for modifiable microsensors. Also, they make it easy for producers to make these sensors on a full-scale for the sector. The technique may assist to enhance biomedical devices for watching signals from the nervous system and brain.
Carbon-fiber microelectrodes are broadly utilized in biochemical detecting apps. They are also utilized as implants to arouse or measure electrical movement in the brain. But existing fabrication techniques done by hand have restricted the design of microsensors to easy geometries. They are also not easily reproducible for high capacity production.
This is the first time researchers are using a 3D printing mechanism to make micro-and nanoelectrode structures. They used customizable geometries like spheres and cones. 3D-printing technology utilizes lasers to write on light-sensitive materials. The materials are after that handled at high heat to generate a carbon electrode with electroactive qualities.
They fabricated cone and sphere geometries that have surface features small like a micrometer. They considered those that are around five times more petite than a red blood cell. They also characterized them as efficient neurochemical sensors.
This new approach could set the stage for practical ways for modifiable microsensor implants that can be mass-produced for different neuroscience apps. This is according to research funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. Part of the research was carried out at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences.
