A study on conductive polymer electrodes for stimulating the nervous system

Issue title: Proceedings of the tenth International Symposium on Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics ISEM-Tokyo

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Ito, Yuichiro^{a; b} | Yagi, Tohru^{c; d} | Ohnishi, Yasushi^e | Kiuchi, Kazutoshi^{f; g} | Uchikawa, Yoshiki^h

Affiliations: [a] Department of Computational Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan. Tel.: +81 52 789 2793; Fax: +81 52 789 3166; E-mail: [email protected] | [b] The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), 2271-130 Anagahora, Shimoshidami, Moriyama-ku, Nagoya 463-0003, Japan. Tel.: +81 52 736 5863; Fax: +81 52 736 5865; E-mail: [email protected] | [c] Department of Computational Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan. Tel.: +81 52 789 2793; Fax: +81 52 789 3166; E-mail: [email protected] | [d] The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), 2271-130 Anagahora, Shimoshidami, Moriyama-ku, Nagoya 463-0003, Japan. Tel.: +81 52 736 5863; Fax: +81 52 736 5865; E-mail: [email protected] | [e] The Institute of Industrial Research, Aichi Prefectural Government, Nishishinwari, Hitotsugi-cho, Kariya 448-0003, Japan. Tel.: +81 566 24 8841; Fax: +81 566 22 8033; E-mail: [email protected] | [f] Department of Biomolecular Science, School of Engineering, Gifu University, Yanagido 1-1, Gifu 501-1193, Japan. Tel.: +81 58 293 2651; Fax: +81 58 230 1893; E-mail; [email protected] | [g] The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), 2271-130 Anagahora, Shimoshidami, Moriyama-ku, Nagoya 463-0003, Japan. Tel.: +81 52 736 5863; Fax: +81 52 736 5865; E-mail: [email protected] | [h] Department of Computational Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan. Tel.: +81 52 789 3165; Fax: +81 52 789 3166; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to develop an implantable micro-electrode array, which is made of the conductive polymer, polypyrrole (PPy). For that purpose, we tried to fabricate micro-patterns of PPy using the photochemical reaction of oxidative polymerization agents. Moreover, the conductivity of the micro-pattern was evaluated in terms of pattern width, length and polymerization time. Experimental results showed that we could fabricate the micro-patterns, which had a line width of 3 μm. This size was small enough for the purpose mentioned above. In addition, the conductivities of the micro-patterns were proportional to their width and length, and could be improved by suitable polymerization time. These results showed that the micro-patterns seemed to be applicable to a neural stimulating electrode.

DOI: 10.3233/JAE-2002-498

Journal: International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics, vol. 14, no. 1-4, pp. 347-352, 2002