A team of engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is developing see-through implantable medical sensor arrays, in order to help neural researchers study the brain. The technology, they say, has potential applications in neuroscience, cardiac care, and even contact lenses.
Neural researchers use imaging techniques along with implantable sensors to allow them to continuously view and capture brain activity they can see, but the sensors can block the view.
The engineers chose graphene because of its thinness, versatility, and biocompatibility. The graphene sensors are incredibly flexible and transparent because the electronic circuit elements are only 4 atoms thick. It is soft and flexible, and provides a good tradeoff between transparency, strength, and conductivity, they say.
The team designed and fabricated the microelectrode arrays, which unlike existing devices, work across a large spectrum of imaging technologies from ultraviolet to deep infrared.
Clear electrodes, in combination with recent technological advances in optogenetics and optical voltage probes, will enable researchers to isolate biological mechanisms, and could dramatically improve existing neuromodulation therapies and aid in identifying new therapies, they explain.
