Electrocorticography electrode arrays (EEAs) are key brain-computer interfaces. To be freestanding, which lays the foundation of fabrication and implantation, EEAs need to maintain sufficient rigidity. However, to form seamless and damage-free contact on the cerebral cortex, EEAs should be super-flexible, raising a seemingly unsolvable dilemma.
Here, inspired by dragonfly wings, we present a freestanding submicron EEA (fs-EEA) that combines rigidity and flexibility, which are typically mutually exclusive characteristics. A wing vein-like frame is introduced to enable the freestanding capability, while the wing membrane-like functional region of fs-EEA is reduced to 850-nm-thickness that boosts its softness. This fs-EEA ensures excellent cortical conformality and biocompatibility on male epileptic rat models, improves electrocorticographic amplitude and signal-to-noise ratio.
Our vein-membrane hybrid structure strategy thus resolves the inherent contradiction of EEAs, and has the potential to support advances in brain science and related fields. The authors acknowledge Li Chen, Penghe Yin, Pan Sun, Xi Zhang, Qing Shan and Guihong Bian from the Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Technology and System of Liaoning Province for the firm support and kind help. The authors are grateful for the valuable discussions with Prof.
Shaomin Zhang at Zhejiang University, China and Prof. Hailong Liu at Dalian University of Technology, China. This work is supported by the Fundamental and Interdisciplinary Disciplines Breakthrough Plan of the Ministry of Education of China (grant no.
L.), the Rejuvenating Liaoning Talents Plan of Liaoning Province (grant no. L.), the Science and Technology Innovation Fund of Dalian (grant no. 2024JJ12GX023 to J. L. and grant no. 2025JJ12PT021 to M.
W.), and the funding from Dalian University of Technology (grant no. These authors contributed equally: Chuchao Wang, Zehan Liu, Wuhao Zhang, Ran Yang. State Key Laboratory of High-performance Precision Manufacturing, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China Chuchao Wang, Zehan Liu, Ran Yang, Yi Li, Zhengfei Wang, Weiqiang Hong, Shengzhao Wang, Xihan Wang, Jingran Wang, Xuan Li, Weifeng Zhang, Mengxi Wu & Junshan Liu Key Laboratory for Micro/ Nano Technology and System of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China Department of Neurosurgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China Wuhao Zhang, Dianwu Chu, Xing Zhou, Guanyu Wang & Jian Yin Epilepsy Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Liaoning Province, Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China Dalian Municipal Central Hospital, Central Hospital of Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China Faculty of Medicine, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China Correspondence to Yi Li, Jian Yin, Mengxi Wu or Junshan Liu.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
