Abstract
Optical methods for modulating cellular behaviour are promising for both fundamental and clinical applications. However, most available methods are either mechanically invasive, require genetic manipulation of target cells or cannot provide subcellular specificity. Here, we address all these issues by showing optical neuromodulation with free-standing coaxial p-type/intrinsic/n-type silicon nanowires. We reveal the presence of atomic gold on the nanowire surfaces, likely due to gold diffusion during the material growth. To evaluate how surface gold impacts the photoelectrochemical properties of single nanowires, we used modified quartz pipettes from a patch clamp and recorded sustained cathodic photocurrents from single nanowires. We show that these currents can elicit action potentials in primary rat dorsal root ganglion neurons through a primarily atomic gold-enhanced photoelectrochemical process.
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Acknowledgements
We thank F. Shi at the University of Illinois Chicago for her help in collecting the EDS data. This work is supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR FA9550-14-1-0175, FA9550-15-1-0285), the National Science Foundation (NSF CAREER, DMR-1254637; NSF MRSEC, DMR 1420709), the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship (FG-2016-6805), the Searle Scholars Foundation, the National Institute of Health (NIH GM030376, NIH F30AI138156, and NS101488), MSTP Training Grant (T32GM007281) and the Paul and Daisy Soros Foundation.
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R.P. grew SiNWs for all experiments and performed all neuron electrophysiology experiments. R.P. and M.J.B. analysed neuron electrophysiology data. Y.J. performed and analysed STEM data. Y.J., J.Y. and R.P. prepared samples for, performed and analysed APT experiments. K.K. performed and analysed XPS experiments. R.P. and A.P. prepared samples for and performed SEM on neuron/SiNW samples. R.P. and M.J.B. performed and analysed LIVE/DEAD and fluorescence microscopy experiments. J.L.C.-d.-S. and R.P. set up equipment for all neuron electrophysiology experiments, temperature recordings and photocurrent recordings. R.P., J.F.Z. and J.L.C.-d.-S. developed the single NW photocurrent recording method. R.P. performed and analysed all photocurrent and temperature recordings. E.J.A. provided support and input on all experiments. B.T. and F.B. directed the research. R.P. and B.T. co-wrote the paper. All authors read and commented on the manuscript.
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Parameswaran, R., Carvalho-de-Souza, J.L., Jiang, Y. et al. Photoelectrochemical modulation of neuronal activity with free-standing coaxial silicon nanowires. Nature Nanotech 13, 260–266 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-017-0041-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-017-0041-7
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