Abstract
Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) have shown great potentials for development of micro‐/nanodevices for neural interfaces due to their suitable properties, such as chemical stability, good electrical conductivity, ultramicro size with low electrical impedance, 3D structures with high surface‐to‐volume ratio, and long‐term biocompatibility. In this paper, we review the applications of CNFs as neural‐electrical interfaces and neural‐chemical interfaces for neural recording and stimulation, electroconductive nanofibrous scaffolds for nerve tissue engineering, drug and gene delivery, and neurochemical sensing. The CNFs‐based micro‐/nanodevices provide new platforms to fine‐tune electrical and chemical cues of neurons at subcellular nanoscale, which can be used for both fundamental studies of material‐cell interactions and the development of chronically stable, implantable neural interface devices. Further development of this technology may potentially enable a highly multiplex closed‐loop system with multifunctions for neuromodulation and neuroprostheses.
Highlights
In the past decade, nanotechnology has attracted so much attention and various nanomaterials and nanostructures have been developed, including quantum dots [1], nanofibers and nanotubes [2], nanowires [3, 4], and nanobelts [5]
Neural-electrical interfaces are widely used for bidirectional communications between the nervous system and external devices, which detect and modulate neural functions by neural recording and stimulation for diagnosis and treatment of neurological diseases or artificial limb control
The results indicated that the soft 3D vertical aligned carbon nanofibers (VACNFs) architecture provided a new platform to fine-tune the topographical, mechanical, chemical, and electrical cues at subcellular nanoscale
Summary
Nanotechnology has attracted so much attention and various nanomaterials and nanostructures have been developed, including quantum dots [1], nanofibers and nanotubes [2], nanowires [3, 4], and nanobelts [5] These nanomaterials are of particular interest to neuroscience society because they can realize electrical and chemical communications with nervous system at micro- and nanoscale. Compared with the conventional technologies, carbon nanofibers (CNFs) have great potentials as electrical and chemical neural interfaces, for their superior electrical, chemical, and physical properties: (1) chemically stable and inert in physiological environment, (2) biocompatible for long-term implantation due to their covalent carbon structure, (3) electrically robust and conductive for Journal of Nanomaterials signal detection, (4) 3D structures that allow intratissue and intracellular penetration, (5) with high surface-to-volume ratio, which reduces contacting electrical impedance greatly, and (6) high spatial resolution due to their ultramicro scale sizes. We review the recent progress of applying CNFs to develop informative neural interfaces, including neuralelectrical interfaces for recording and stimulation of neural activities, electroconductive nanofibrous scaffolds, and neural-chemical interfaces for minimally invasive molecular delivery and detection of neurochemicals
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