A cone-shaped 3D carbon nanotube probe for neural recording

A novel cone-shaped 3D carbon nanotube (CNT) probe is proposed as an electrode for applications in neural recording. The electrode consists of CNTs synthesized on the cone-shaped Si (cs-Si) tip by catalytic thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD). This probe exhibits a larger CNT surface area with the same footprint area and higher spatial resolution of neural recording compared to planar-type CNT electrodes. An approach to improve CNT characteristics by O2 plasma treatment to modify the CNT surface will be also presented. Electrochemical characterization of O2 plasma-treated 3D CNT (OT-CNT) probes revealed low impedance per unit area (∼64.5 Ω mm−2) at 1 kHz and high specific capacitance per unit area (∼2.5 mF cm−2). Furthermore, the OT-CNT probes were employed to record the neural signals of a crayfish nerve cord. Our findings suggest that OT-CNT probes have potential advantages as high spatial resolution and superb electrochemical properties which are suitable for neural recording applications.