Retinal and neural stimulation with quantum dots based photovoltaic interfaces
Abstract
Electrical stimulation of neural tissues is one of the emerging technological areas in medicine. Although several attempts from various research groups, neuro-electronic interface technologies are still in the infancy period. Especially in neurodegenerative situations, such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration, neural stimulation could be effective rehabilitation method. For the retina, photovoltaic surfaces are the pioneer concepts for the recovery of sensation. The institutes, which are working on retinal prostheses, are currently exploiting various photoactive electrical surfaces to stimulate bipolar and ganglion cells in the retina. However, they fail to fulfill the functions of the retinal prosthesis due to bio-incompatibility, external energy source necessity, lack of flexibility, and mobility of the prosthesis. Therefore, there is an enormous necessity for innovative biomaterials in retinal prosthesis production. Quantum dot-based photovoltaic devices are great candidates for nano-sized neural stimulators. Their working principle relies on the photoelectric effect, which makes them a possible replacement for the rhodopsin-based phototransduction mechanism in photoreceptor cells. For retinal implant production on flexible PET (polyethylene terephthalate) surfaces, various types of quantum dot-based photovoltaic interfaces could be used, such as Lead(II)sulfide (PbS), Aluminum antimonide (AlSb). The main concerns on these bio-interfaces are…
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