Synthesis and characterization of Titanium Nitride Nanowires for neural-electrode coatings for improving electrode/neuron interface in the brain
type: CreativeWork
description: In neurophysiological measurements, a neural-electrode interface material plays a critical role in delivering adequate charge to elicit action potentials without damaging the tissue of interest. However, the need to minimise electrode dimensions to reduce invasiveness and increase selectivity, demands the use of materials that are able to handle larger current and charge densities than traditional noble electrodes such as platinum. Since charge density is directly affected by the surface area of the electrode, nanoscale materials have shown a great deal of potential for not just improving the electrochemical properties, but the biocompatibility at reduced electrode dimensions. Titanium Nitride thin film (TiN) has been implemented previously in neural-electrode application due to its apposite properties. The work described here is aimed towards the synthesis of a novel TiN Nanowire interface (TiN-NW) as a potential neural-electrode material. The synthesis of the nanowires involved a three-step approach: (1) sputter of TiN thin film onto a substrate to act as a seed layer for the growth of NWs, (2) the growth of titanium dioxide nanowires (TiO2-NWs) of high aspect ratio and crystallinity followed by (3) a novel plasma nitridation step using Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) which offered a lower synthesis temperature than the conventional processing temperature reported in the literature. An optimised TiN thin film, grown through Radio Frequency (RF) non-reactive magnetron sputtering, was used as a seeding layer for the growth of NWs. The properties of the seed layer and the grown NWs were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) while the suitability of the grown TiN-NWs as an electrode material was tested by studying their electrochemical performance through cyclic voltammetry (CV) and e…
abstract: In neurophysiological measurements, a neural-electrode interface material plays a critical role in delivering adequate charge to elicit action potentials without damaging the tissue of interest. However, the need to minimise electrode dimensions to reduce invasiveness and increase selectivity, demands the use of materials that are able to handle larger current and charge densities than traditional noble electrodes such as platinum. Since charge density is directly affected by the surface area of the electrode, nanoscale materials have shown a great deal of potential for not just improving the electrochemical properties, but the biocompatibility at reduced electrode dimensions. Titanium Nitride thin film (TiN) has been implemented previously in neural-electrode application due to its apposite properties. The work described here is aimed towards the synthesis of a novel TiN Nanowire interface (TiN-NW) as a potential neural-electrode material. The synthesis of the nanowires involved a three-step approach: (1) sputter of TiN thin film onto a substrate to act as a seed layer for the growth of NWs, (2) the growth of titanium dioxide nanowires (TiO2-NWs) of high aspect ratio and crystallinity followed by (3) a novel plasma nitridation step using Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) which offered a lower synthesis temperature than the conventional processing temperature reported in the literature. An optimised TiN thin film, grown through Radio Frequency (RF) non-reactive magnetron sputtering, was used as a seeding layer for the growth of NWs. The properties of the seed layer and the grown NWs were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) while the suitability of the grown TiN-NWs as an electrode material was tested by studying their electrochemical performance through cyclic voltammetry (CV) and e…
author: Sait, Roaa
license: https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/bitstreams/56886aac-6038-4fbc-a298-9d8d2d008999/download
date published: 2019-06
date modified: 2026-07-24T06:18:54Z
provider: De Montfort University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: De Montfort University