Paper MS-ThM5
Three-Dimensional Silicon Mesostructures for Bioelectric Interfaces

Thursday, November 2, 2017, 9:20 am, Room 5 & 6

Silicon-based materials exhibit biocompatibility, biodegradability as well as a spectrum of important electrical, optical, thermal and mechanical properties, leading to their potential applications in biophysical or biomedical research. However, existing forms of silicon (Si) materials have been primarily focused on one-dimensional (1D) nanowires and two-dimensional (2D) membranes. Si with three-dimensional (3D) mesoscale features has been an emerging class of materials with potentially unique physical properties. Here, we incorporated new design elements in the traditional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to prepare various forms of 3D Si mesostructures and studied their functional biointerfaces with cellular components. In the first example, an anisotropic Si mesostructure, fabricated from atomic gold-enabled 3D lithography, displayed enhanced mesoscale interfacial interactions with extracellular matrix network. This topographically-enabled adhesive biointerface could be exploited for building tight junctions between bioelectronics devices and biological tissues. Another Si mesostructure with multi-scale structural and chemical heterogeneities, was adopted to establish a remotely-controlled lipid-supported bioelectric interface. We further adapted the bioelectric interface into the non-genetic optical modulation of single dorsal root ganglia neuron electrophysiology dynamics. Our results suggest that the dimensional extension of existing forms of Si could open up new opportunities in the research of biomaterials manufacturing and application.