Material design and fabrication of interface for effective in vitro electrical and optical cell co-stimulation

Neural technologies are becoming increasingly important in treating neurological diseases and in tissue engineering. Electrical stimulation (ES), which uses electrical cues to trigger neuronal responses, is the main technique used in such technologies. Because of certain limitations of ES, optical stimulation has been explored, whereby light is used to modulate neuronal behaviour. Here, a novel electrode interface was developed, namely a liquid crystal graphene oxide-gold nanorod interface, to perform near-infrared and electrical co-stimulation of neurons. The research explores the material design, fabrication and in vitro testing of the interface and shows its potential in modulating neuronal responses for future applications.