Au Nanowire Arrays for Stimulating and Detecting Electrical Activity in Neuronal Cells

Au Nanowire Arrays for Stimulating and Detecting Electrical Activity in Neuronal Cells

Student: Jesse Silverberg
Department: Physics
Advisor: Latika Menon

Abstract

The process of anodization is used to fabricate a nanoporous template. This template has a hexagonally packed arrangement of cylindrical pores with controllable features such as pore diameter and length. By electrochemical means, Au is deposited into the pores to fabricate a highly ordered array of nanowires. Further processing allows for the placement of probes onto one side of the array. On the other side of the array neuronal cells are cultured on exposed nanowires. Electrophysiology experiments are conducted to determine the electrical properties of individual neurons and to observe the signal propagation through multiple neurons.