Soft and stretchable microelectrodes with tunable anisotropic properties

Abstract

A hydrogel electrode for electrically interfacing with animal tissue, comprising with a chemically crosslinked polymer matrix configured having a diameter of less than 500 μm, having anisotropically aligned conductive nanorods or nanotubes, surrounded by a tubular insulating layer. A method of making a soft, elastic, conductive hydrogel electrode, comprising: combining a hydrogel-forming polymer with carbon nanotubes and a carbon nanotube dispersing agent to form a heterogeneous mixture; crosslinking the hydrogel-forming polymer to form an elongated hydrogel having a diameter less than 1 mm; and applying a cyclic strain on the molded hydrogel to align the carbon nanotubes with an elongation axis of the molded hydrogel to form an anisotropically-conductive hydrogel.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.