Journal article
Development of Multifunctional Hierarchically Restructured Antibacterial Neural Interfacing Electrodes via Plasma‐Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition of Zinc Oxide Thin Films
Advanced functional materials, Forthcoming
29 Jul 2026
Abstract
Next‐generation implantable neural‐interfacing devices are increasingly constrained by the coupled demands of electrode miniaturization, electrochemical performance, and implantation infection risk. Femtosecond laser–based hierarchical surface restructuring (HSR) technology has emerged as a scalable, manufacturing‐compatible platform for overcoming electrochemical performance limitations of conventional electrodes and (micro)electrode arrays by substantially increasing the electrochemically active surface area of electrode contacts. However, imparting antibacterial functionality to HSR electrodes without compromising electrochemical performance remains a critical challenge. We report a surface engineering strategy that integrates the HSR technology with plasma‐enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) to controllably introduce antibacterial functionality. ZnO‐based ultrathin films were deposited using either oxygen PEALD (O‐PEALD), yielding stoichiometric ZnO, or oxygen–hydrogen PEALD (O‐H‐PEALD), producing a ZnO–Zn nanocomposite containing metallic Zn domains. While O‐PEALD films impart antibacterial activity under dark, aerobic conditions, they introduce a resistive barrier that degrades electrochemical performance. In contrast, O‐H‐PEALD films preserve and enhance electrochemical performance, while maintaining robust antibacterial efficacy against both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus . Collectively, this work establishes a scalable and commercially viable strategy for decoupling and optimizing electrochemical performance and antibacterial functionality in implantable neural interfacing electrodes, providing an antibiotic‐free pathway toward infection‐resistant, high‐performance neural interfaces suitable for long‐term clinical deployment. Hierarchically restructured platinum–iridium neural electrodes are conformally coated with atomic layer deposited ZnO to impart antibacterial functionality while preserving electrochemical performance. The multifunctional coating inhibits bacterial growth under dark conditions, providing a promising strategy for infection‐resistant neural interfaces and other long‐term implantable bioelectronic devices.
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Details
- Title
- Development of Multifunctional Hierarchically Restructured Antibacterial Neural Interfacing Electrodes via Plasma‐Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition of Zinc Oxide Thin Films
- Creators
- Henna Khosla - Villanova UniversityWesley Seche - Ore Holdings (United States)Kriti Panchal - Drexel UniversitySteven J. May - Drexel UniversityEkaterina Pomerantseva - Drexel UniversityJacob Elmer - Villanova UniversityTyler Cooper - Villanova UniversityMatthew J. Urban - Rowan UniversityHailey Y. Maurer - Rowan UniversityGregory A. Caputo - Rowan UniversityJeffrey Hettinger - Rowan UniversityShahram Amini - University of ConnecticutGang Feng (Corresponding Author) - Villanova University
- Publication Details
- Advanced functional materials, Forthcoming
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Number of pages
- 20
- Grant note
- NSF National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure: NNCI-2025608 National Institutes of Health: T34GM136492 National Science Foundation: 2018852, 2018320
The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Manufacturing PA Innovation Program of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. The authors also acknowledge the National Science Foundation (NSF) for support through the CBET MRI grant (Award No. 2018852), which enabled the acquisition of the WITec confocal Raman microscope used in this work, and through the CHE MRI grant (Award No. 2018320), which supported the acquisition of the Agilent 7900 ICP-MS system. Hailey Maurer was supported in part by National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number T34GM136492. Financial support from Mr. Joseph Rosato, Mr. Frank Henofer, and Mr. Bob Walsh of Pulse IP, LLC is sincerely appreciated for their continued commitment to advancing innovative medical device technologies. The authors further acknowledge the University of Delaware for access to advanced materials characterization facilities, including XPS, XRD, EDS, and SEM. A subset of this work was carried out at the Singh Center for Nanotechnology at the University of Pennsylvania, which is supported by the NSF National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) Program under Grant No. NNCI-2025608.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Materials Science and Engineering; Otolaryngology (and Head and Neck Surgery)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001834633400001
- Other Identifier
- 991022200654804721