Using microneedle array electrodes for non-invasive electrophysiological signal acquisition and sensory feedback evoking

Introduction: Bidirectional transmission of information is needed to realize a closed-loop human-machine interaction (HMI), where electrophysiological signals are recorded for man-machine control and electrical stimulations are used for machine-man feedback. As a neural interface (NI) connecting man and machine, electrodes play an important role in HMI and their characteristics are critical for information transmission.Methods: In this work, we fabricated a kind of microneedle array electrodes (MAEs) by using a magnetization-induced self-assembly method, where microneedles with a length of 500–600 μm and a tip diameter of ∼20 μm were constructed on flexible substrates. Part of the needle length could penetrate through the subjects’ stratum corneum and reach the epidermis, but not touch the dermis, establishing a safe and direct communication pathway between external electrical circuit and internal peripheral nervous system.Results: The MAEs showed significantly lower and more stable electrode-skin interface impedance than the metal-based flat array electrodes (FAEs) in various testing scenarios, demonstrating their promising impedance characteristics. With the stable microneedle structure, MAEs exhibited an average SNR of EMG that is more than 30% higher than FAEs, and a motion-intention classification accuracy that is 10% higher than FAEs. The successful sensation evoking demonstrated the feasibility of the MAE-based electrical stimulation for sensory feedback, where a variety of natural and intuitive feelings were generated in the subjects and thereafter objectively verified through EEG analysis.Discussion: This work confirms the application potential of MAEs working as an effective NI, in both electrophysiological recording and electrical stimulation, which may provide a technique support for the development of HMI

Electrical impedance performance of metal dry bioelectrode with different surface coatings

To improve the electrical impedance performance of bioelectrodes, a novel metal dry bioelectrodes with different coating layers are developed with laser micromilling and electroplating technology. Based on the analysis of the coating layer on the bioelectrode surface, the effect of different coating layers on the electrical impedance performance of bioelectrodes is investigated. The results show that the silver content increases with electroplating time when the silver layer is coated on the bioelectrode surface. However, the decrease of silver layer weight is observed with much longer electroplating time, and the optimal electroplating time is 20 min. Compared with the uncoated bioelectrode, the bioelectrode coated with silver layer exhibits much lower impedance value and better impedance stability. Especially, when the silver-coated bioelectrode is subsequently coated with silver-silver chloride layer, the lowest impedance value and best impedance stability are obtained

Enhancement of electrode design for non-invasive stimulus application

Existing electrodes can be classified into two categories which are invasive and non-invasive electrodes. The non-invasive electrodes can be further classified into wet or dry electrodes. Most of the off-the-shelf electrodes are made from rigid substrates which have the high level of motion artifacts. To overcome this motion artifact, flexible electrodes have been slowly introduced in the market. Flexible electrodes can be made from various types of material such as the substrate. This paper presents a work on designing a new flexible dry electrodes using poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate and silver by means of dispenser printing technology. Polyester cotton fabric was selected as the substrate in this electrode designed. Results from the experiment show that the conductivity of the proposed flexible electrode is comparable with the conventional pre-gelled electrode when applied to an electrical stimulator device. Eight out of ten subjects under test described no difference in comfort between the proposed electrodes and pre-gelled electrodes. © 2017 IEEE

Development and Characterization of Polymer-based Magnetoelectric Nanofibers

With the rapid development of bionics, where biological systems meet electronics, there is an interest in polymer-based electrode systems that are soft, flexible, easily processed and fabricated. In this research area, magnetoelectric (ME) composites bring new and exciting opportunities, including contactless or “wireless” electrical stimulation, less-invasive integration in the form of dispersible, injectable nanoelectrodes, and applications as biodegradable sensors and bioenergy harvesters in the biomedical field. When ME composites are exposed to a magnetic field, a magnetostrictive (MS) component transfers strain to a piezoelectric (PE) component that generates an output voltage. In doing so, ME composites have the ability to enable magnetic-to-electrical conversion and thus can be utilized to power devices or electrically stimulate tissues or cells from a remote magnetic stimulus. To date, ceramic materials have mostly been applied in nanostructured ME composites, however, these may become fragile and cause deleterious reactions at the interface regions, leading to low electrical resistivity and high dielectric losses and ultimately low output voltage. To overcome these shortcomings, polymer-based ME composites offer new solutions to develop softer, contactless electrodes, without electrical connections, for easier and unique fabrication approaches (e.g. incorporation into soft gels). Their strain-mediated ME effect in large scale devices has been thoroughly studied both experimentally and theoretically. Polymer-based ME composites have almost exclusively used the PE polymer, poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF), due to its high PE coefficient and as such developments in exploring other types of PE polymers have not been forthcoming. For example, other PE polymers such as poly (vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (P(VDF-HFP)) and poly (lactic acid) (PLA) have yet to be investigated though have the potential to bring added-value and function to polymer-based ME composites. Compared to PVDF and its copolymer P(VDF-TrFE), the piezoelectricity of another copolymer, P(VDF-HFP), is less-well understood. As a biocompatible polymer, PLA has been extensively investigated for applications in drug delivery and tissue engineering. Instead of being used only as a biodegradable and bioactive thermoplastic material, PLA is promising as a PE polymer, which has potential to mimic PE functions of tissues. Thus, in addition to PVDF, the thesis investigates the PE properties of P(VDF-HFP) and PLA and aims to develop ME composite nanofibers based on these polymers

Novel dry metal electrode with tilted microstructure fabricated with laser micromilling process

A novel dry metal electrodes with tilted microstructure arrays was fabricated with laser micromilling process by adjusting the incident angle of the laser beam. After discussing the laser fabrication process for dry metal electrodes, the effects of the laser incident angle, width of unscanned area, laser output power, and scanning times on the shape and size of the microstructures are further discussed. Our experimental results show that the tilted angle of the surface microstructures of the dry metal electrodes depended on the laser incident angle. The heights of the surface microstructures of dry metal electrodes were greatly increased by increases of the laser output power and scanning times. Compared with vertical microstructure arrays, the developed dry metal electrodes with 60° tilted angle microstructure arrays demonstrated much lower impedances

Magnetic Nanoparticle Enhanced Actuation Strategy for mixing, separation, and detection of biomolecules in a Microfluidic Lab-on-a-Chip System

Magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) combined with biomolecules in a microfluidic system can be efficiently used in various applications such as mixing, pre-concentration, separation and detection. They can be either integrated for point-of care applications or used individually in the area of bio-defense, drug delivery, medical diagnostics, and pharmaceutical development. The interaction of magnetic fields with magnetic nanoparticles in microfluidic flows will allow simplifying the complexity of the present generation separation and detection systems. The ability to understand the dynamics of these interactions is a prerequisite for designing and developing more efficient systems. Therefore, in this work proof-of-concept experiments are combined with advanced numerical simulation to design, develop and optimize the magnetic microfluidic systems for mixing, separation and detection. Different strategies to combine magnetism with microfluidic technology are explored; a time-dependent magnetic actuation is used for efficiently mixing low volume of samples whereas tangential microfluidic channels were fabricated to demonstrate a simple low cost magnetic switching for continuous separation of biomolecules. A simple low cost generic microfluidic platform is developed using assembly of readily available permanent magnets and electromagnets. Microfluidic channels were fabricated at much lower cost and with a faster construction time using our in-house developed micromolding technique that does not require a clean room. Residence-time distribution (RTD) analysis obtained using dynamic light scattering data from samples was successfully used for the first time in microfluidic system to characterize the performance. Both advanced multiphysics finite element models and proof of concept experimentation demonstrates that MNPs when tagged with biomolecules can be easily manipulated within the microchannel. They can be precisely captured, separated or detected with high efficiency and ease of operation. Presence of MNPs together with time-dependent magnetic actuation also helps in mixing as well as tagging biomolecules on chip, which is useful for point-of-care applications. The advanced mathematical model that takes into account mass and momentum transport, convection & diffusion, magnetic body forces acting on magnetic nanoparticles further demonstrates that the performance of microfluidic surface-based bio-assay can be increased by incorporating the idea of magnetic actuation. The numerical simulations were helpful in testing and optimizing key design parameters and demonstrated that fluid flow rate, magnetic field strength, and magnetic nanoparticle size had dramatic impact on the performance of microfluidic systems studied. This work will also emphasize the importance of considering magnetic nanoparticles interactions for a complete design of magnetic nanoparticle-based Lab-on-a-chip system where all the laboratory unit operations can be easily integrated. The strategy demonstrated in this work will not only be easy to implement but also allows for versatile biochip design rules and provides a simple approach to integrate external elements for enhancing mixing, separation and detection of biomolecules. The vast applications of this novel concept studied in this work demonstrate its potential of to be applied to other kinds of on-chip immunoassays in future. We think that the possibility of integrating magnetism with microfluidic-based bioassay on a disposable chip is a very promising and versatile approach for point-of care diagnostics especially in resource-limited settings

Miniaturized Electron Optics based on Self-Assembled Micro Coils

Zahlreiche Geräte, die in den Naturwissenschaen, in der Industrie und im Gesundheitswesen unverzichtbar sind, basieren auf Strahlen schneller geladener Teilchen. Dazu zählen unter anderem Elektronen- und Ionenmikroskope, entsprechende Lithographiestrahlanlagen und Röntgenstrahlungsquellen. Magnetische Optiken, die Strahlen geladener Teilchen ablenken, formen und fokussieren, sind das Rückgrat aller Geräte die mit hochenergetischen Teilchen arbeiten, da sie im Vergleich zu Optiken, die auf elektrischen Feldern basieren, bei hohen Teilchengeschwindigkeiten eine überlegene optische Leistung aufweisen. Konventionelle makroskopische magnetische Optiken sind jedoch groß, teuer und platzraubend, nicht hochfrequenzfähig und erfordern aktive (Wasser-)Kühlung zur Wärmeabfuhr. Sie sind daher für Mehrstrahlinstrumente, miniaturisierte Anwendungen und schnelle Strahlmanipulation ungeeignet, die für zukünftige Fortschritte in der Nanofabrikation und -analyse gebraucht werden. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurden die ersten magnetischen selbst-assemblierenden Mikro-Origami-Elektronenoptiken entwickelt, hergestellt und charakterisiert. Mit dem verwendeten Miniaturisierungsansatz können, bei ähnlicher optischer Leistung, alle oben genannten Nachteile von konventionellen magnetischen Optiken überwunden werden. Die außergewöhnlichen Eigenschaften dieser optischen Elemente werden durch die einzigartigen Merkmale der Mikrospulen ermöglicht: geringe Größe, geringe Induktivität und geringer Widerstand. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurden unter anderem adaptive Phasenplaen hergestellt, die Elektronenvortexstrahlen mit einem bislang unerreichten Bahndrehimpuls von bis zu mehreren 1000 ̄h erzeugen. Des Weiteren wurden schnelle Elektronenstrahldeflektoren zur Strahlablenkung, zum zweidimensionalen Rastern und für stroboskopische Experimente gefertigt. Sie besitzen eine Ablenkleistung im mrad-Bereich für 300 kV Elektronen und einen Frequenzdurchgang bis zu 100 MHz. Darüber hinaus wurden miniaturisierte adrupollinsen mit Brennweiten kleiner als 46 mm für 300 kV Elektronen entwickelt. Diese drei Arten elektronenoptischer Elemente sind von großem Interesse für verschiedenste Anwendungen in der Nanofabrikation und -analyse, da sie unter anderem als integrale Bestandteile von zu entwickelnden Mehrstrahlinstrumenten, miniaturisierten Geräten und stroboskopischen Messaufbauten dienen können.:1 Introduction 1.1 Charged Particle Optics 1.2 Miniaturized Charged Particle Optics 1.3 Phase Plates for Transmission Electron Microscopy 2 Charged Particle Optics 2.1 Hamiltonian Formalism 2.2 Gaussian Matrix Optics 2.3 Transfer Matrices of Magnetic Elements 2.3.1 Single Quadrupole 2.3.2 Quadrupole Multiplets 2.3.2.1 Quadrupole Doublet 2.3.2.2 Quadrupole Triplet 2.3.2.3 Higher Order Quadrupole Multiplets 2.4 Scaling Laws for Charged Particle Optics 2.4.1 Thin Film 2.4.2 Electrostatic Scaling Laws 2.4.3 Magnetic Scaling Laws 3 Design and Fabrication of Miniaturized Electron Optics 3.1 Basics of Polymer-Based Self-Assembly Technology 3.2 Basic Coil Design and Magnetic Field Simulations 3.3 CoFeSiB-Pyrex Core-Shell Micro Wires 3.4 Fabrication of Self-Assembled Micro Coil Devices 4 Optical Properties of Self-Assembled Miniaturized Electron Optics 4.1 Electron Vortex Phase Plate 4.1.1 Projected Magnetic Fields 4.1.2 Vortex Beam Characteristics 4.2 Miniaturized Deflector 4.3 Quadrupole Focusing Optic 4.4 High Frequency Characteristics of Self-Assembled Electron Optics 5 Summary and Outlook 5.1 Applications of Electron Vortex Beams with Large OAM 5.2 Optics of Large Optical Power for Pulsed Instruments 5.3 Stroboscopic TEM Measurements 5.4 Miniaturized Wigglers, Undulators and Free Electron Lasers 5.5 Towards Integrated Electron Optical SystemsBeams of highly accelerated charged particles are essential for numerous indispensable devices used throughout natural sciences, industry and the healthcare sector, e.g., electron and ion microscopes, charged particle lithography machines and X-ray radiation sources. Magnetic charged particle optics that deflect, shape and focus high-energy charged particles are the backbone of all such devices, because of their superior optical power compared to electric field optics at large particle velocities. Conventional macroscopic magnetic optics, however, are large, costly and bulky, not high frequency capable and require active cooling for heat dissipation. They are therefore unsuitable for fast beam manipulation, multibeam instrumentation, and miniaturized applications, much desired for future advances in nanofabrication and analysis. The first on-chip micro-sized magnetic charged particle optics realized via a self-assembling micro-origami process were designed, fabricated and characterized within the frame of this work. The utilized micro-miniaturization approach overcomes all the aforementioned obstacles for conventional magnetic optics, while maintaining similar optical power. The exceptional properties of these optical elements are rendered possible by the unique features of strain-engineered micro-coils: small size, small inductance and small resistivity. Within the frame of this work, adaptive phase plates were fabricated, which generate electron vortex beams with an unprecedented orbital angular momentum of up to several 1000 ̄h. Furthermore, fast electron beam deflectors for beam blanking, two-dimensional scanning and stroboscopic experiments were manufactured. They possess a deflection power in the mrad regime for 300 kV electrons and a high frequency passband up to 100 MHz. Additionally, miniaturized strong quadrupole lenses with focal lengths down to 46 mm for 300 kV electrons have been developed. These three types of electron optical elements are of great interest for a wide range of applications in nanofabrication and analysis, as they serve as integral components of future multibeam instruments, miniaturized devices, and stroboscopic measurement setups to be developed.:1 Introduction 1.1 Charged Particle Optics 1.2 Miniaturized Charged Particle Optics 1.3 Phase Plates for Transmission Electron Microscopy 2 Charged Particle Optics 2.1 Hamiltonian Formalism 2.2 Gaussian Matrix Optics 2.3 Transfer Matrices of Magnetic Elements 2.3.1 Single Quadrupole 2.3.2 Quadrupole Multiplets 2.3.2.1 Quadrupole Doublet 2.3.2.2 Quadrupole Triplet 2.3.2.3 Higher Order Quadrupole Multiplets 2.4 Scaling Laws for Charged Particle Optics 2.4.1 Thin Film 2.4.2 Electrostatic Scaling Laws 2.4.3 Magnetic Scaling Laws 3 Design and Fabrication of Miniaturized Electron Optics 3.1 Basics of Polymer-Based Self-Assembly Technology 3.2 Basic Coil Design and Magnetic Field Simulations 3.3 CoFeSiB-Pyrex Core-Shell Micro Wires 3.4 Fabrication of Self-Assembled Micro Coil Devices 4 Optical Properties of Self-Assembled Miniaturized Electron Optics 4.1 Electron Vortex Phase Plate 4.1.1 Projected Magnetic Fields 4.1.2 Vortex Beam Characteristics 4.2 Miniaturized Deflector 4.3 Quadrupole Focusing Optic 4.4 High Frequency Characteristics of Self-Assembled Electron Optics 5 Summary and Outlook 5.1 Applications of Electron Vortex Beams with Large OAM 5.2 Optics of Large Optical Power for Pulsed Instruments 5.3 Stroboscopic TEM Measurements 5.4 Miniaturized Wigglers, Undulators and Free Electron Lasers 5.5 Towards Integrated Electron Optical System

Formation of Advanced Nanomaterials by Gas-Phase Aggregation

The book represents a collection of papers from Special Issue “Formation of Advanced Nanomaterials by Gas-Phase Aggregation” published in journal Applied Nano. It contains review and original articles covering a range of topics on the growth of clusters/nanoparticles using gas-phase aggregation approaches, the application of cluster beams for the formation of nanomaterials with advanced properties and specific nanostructures as well as providing new fundamental insights on nanoscale properties of materials

Microfluidics for Biosensing and Diagnostics

Efforts to miniaturize sensing and diagnostic devices and to integrate multiple functions into one device have caused massive growth in the field of microfluidics and this integration is now recognized as an important feature of most new diagnostic approaches. These approaches have and continue to change the field of biosensing and diagnostics. In this Special Issue, we present a small collection of works describing microfluidics with applications in biosensing and diagnostics