Optical methods for modulating cellular behaviour are promising for both fundamental and clinical applications. However, most available methods are either mechanically invasive, require genetic manipulation of target cells or cannot provide subcellular specificity. Here, we address all these issues by showing optical neuromodulation with free-standing coaxial p-type/intrinsic/n-type silicon nanowires. We reveal the presence of atomic gold on the nanowire surfaces, likely due to gold diffusion during the material growth. To evaluate how surface gold impacts the photoelectrochemical properties of single nanowires, we used modified quartz pipettes from a patch clamp and recorded sustained cathodic photocurrents from single nanowires. We show that these currents can elicit action potentials in primary rat dorsal root ganglion neurons through a primarily atomic gold-enhanced photoelectrochemical process.

中文翻译：

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独立式同轴硅纳米线对神经元活动的光电化学调节。

调节细胞行为的光学方法对于基础和临床应用都有希望。但是，大多数可用的方法是机械侵入性的，需要对靶细胞进行遗传操作或不能提供亚细胞特异性。在这里，我们通过使用独立的同轴p型/本征/ n型硅纳米线显示光学神经调节来解决所有这些问题。我们揭示了纳米线表面上存在原子金，这可能是由于材料生长过程中的金扩散所致。为了评估表面金如何影响单根纳米线的光电化学性能，我们使用了来自膜片钳的改良石英移液管，并记录了单根纳米线的持续阴极光电流。