Soft Bioelectronic Interfaces from 2D MXene Materials

Fabricating bioelectronic interfaces from nanoscale conductors has proven to be an effective strategy to address electrochemical, mechanical, and functionality issues typical of metals and silicon. However, processing of nanomaterials such as graphene, carbon nanotubes, and nanostructured metals into fully functional devices is typically time-consuming, labor-intensive, and hard to scale, especially for human applications requiring large coverage. Transition metal carbides, nitrides, and carbonitrides (MXenes) have emerged as a new class of 2D nanomaterials that enable low-cost, additive-free, solution processing from aqueous dispersions and can produce biocompatible films with metallic conductivity. In this talk, I will describe novel multiscale bioelectronic interfaces fabricated from printing aqueous inks of Ti₃C₂ MXene on laser-patterned substrates. To further enhance the surface area at the contact sites, the electrodes feature 3D MXene-cellulose aerogels. To illustrate the versatility and scalability of the proposed approach, I will present examples of application in intracranial recording and microstimulation in rodents and pigs, as well as high-density recording of brain and muscle activity in human subjects.