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Photoelectrochemical modulation of neuronal activity with free-standing coaxial silicon nanowires

Nature Nanotechnology volume 13, pages 260–266 (2018)Cite this article

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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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Fig. 1: XPS and APT reveal the presence of atomic Au on coaxial NW surfaces.
Fig. 2: Single NW recordings reveal that coaxial SiNWs are photoelectrochemical current sources.
Fig. 3: Basic SiNW-based neural interfaces can be formed.
Fig. 4: Photocurrent generated by coaxial NWs can be harnessed to elicit APs in primary rat DRG neurons.
Fig. 5: Mechanism of coaxial NW photocurrent generation and neuronal modulation is primarily photoelectrochemical, aided by surface atomic Au.

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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.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Ramya Parameswaran

  2. The Graduate Program in Biophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Ramya Parameswaran

  3. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    João L. Carvalho-de-Souza, Erin J. Adams & Francisco Bezanilla

  4. Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Yuanwen Jiang, Michael J. Burke, John F. Zimmerman, Kelliann Koehler, Andrew W. Phillips, Jaeseok Yi & Bozhi Tian

  5. John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    John F. Zimmerman

  6. The James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Jaeseok Yi & Bozhi Tian

  7. The Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Francisco Bezanilla & Bozhi Tian

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Contributions

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.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Francisco Bezanilla or Bozhi Tian.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Table 1, Supplementary Figures 1–11.

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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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