Opto-Magneto-Electrical Nanoactuators for Wireless Cell Stimulation
[eng] Clinical treatments based on electrical stimulation of excitable cells have been efficacious for a variety of diseases. However, these devices are often limited by their bulkiness, need for wiring electrodes and inability to target specific cells. Implantable devices that can directly convert...
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| Formato: | tesis doctoral |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2020 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Universidad de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de la UB |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/174363 |
| Acesso em linha: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/174363 http://hdl.handle.net/10803/670924 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Fotoelectricitat Transferència d'energia Semiconductors Biofísica Photoelectricity Energy transfer Biophysics |
| Resumo: | [eng] Clinical treatments based on electrical stimulation of excitable cells have been efficacious for a variety of diseases. However, these devices are often limited by their bulkiness, need for wiring electrodes and inability to target specific cells. Implantable devices that can directly convert optical or magnetic energy to localized electrical output to actuate cells are promising alternatives. This thesis focused on the development of opto-electric and magneto-opto-electric nanomaterials for wireless cell stimulation. Currently, the opto-electric stimulators usually require low penetration visible light and high intensities, the magneto-electric stimulators usually provide poor spatial and temporal precision. In this thesis, two types of nanomaterials have been developed to overcome these challenges. The first nanomaterial was based on Si/Au nanopillars to achieve opto-electric stimulation in the first and second NIR biological windows with ultralow light intensities. We started with the rational design and analysis, the FDTD simulations predicted that Si nanopillars capped by Au nanodiscs exhibited 6-fold enhancement of the light absorption compared with the plain Si wafer, such enhancement is due to the excitation of novel hybrid metal/dielectric resonances. Next, an exhaustive experimental opto-electric-chemical analysis of Si/Au nanostructures was presented. In particular, the short Si/Au nanopillars gave the highest opto-electric performance, achieving a photovoltage of 80 mV at ultralow light intensity of 0.44 µW/mm2, showing a frequency window of 50-200 Hz to maximize the photovoltage and photocurrent. Finally, the biocompatibility of the Si/Au nanostructures was validated by cell viability assays. The second nanomaterial was composed of arrays of hollow FeGa/ZnO nanodomes integrated onto soft, flexible and biocompatible elastomeric film. The proposed magneto-electric stimulation is based on the magnetostriction of FeGa and the piezoelectricity of ZnO, the opto-electric stimulation is based on the NIR light absorption of FeGa and the pyroelectric response of ZnO. The magnetic behaviour results revealed that the hexagonal-close-packed arrays with 400 nm diameter provided the lowest saturation magnetic field and minimal remanence. The photothermal test showed intense optical heating for light wavelengths of 808 nm and 1064 nm. The biocompatibility was proved by evaluating the bone Saos-2 cells viability. Therefore, the Si/Au and FeGa/ZnO nanoactuators present new platforms for wireless cell modulation through NIR light and magnetic field, which may be broadly applicable to both fundamental biological studies and clinical therapeutics. |
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