Biologically Interfaced Porous Silicon Devices

Abstract

PS has been shown to be an excellent candidate biomaterial following studies showing its biostability and non-toxicity. These favourable properties, coupled with the ease of its topographical manipulation, and its optoelectronic properties, make it an ideal material for the design of biologically interfaced devices (BIDs). Possible potential applications for PS in BIDs falls into three main areas: (i) in vitro biosensors, (ii) the development of intelligent implantible medical devices and (iii) biologically interfaced neural networks. The majority of these applications rely on the ability of PS to directly interface with living cells. In order to achieve this the cells must adhere to the solid-state device in a pattern appropriate to the circuitry. Here we report the use of confocal microscopy to image B50 cells on PS substrates in order to obtain cell patterning information. We also report the quantification of silicic acid and silica toxicity on B50 cells in culture, a study confirming that suggested by-products of PS manufacture are not toxic. Finally, preliminary findings on the effect of nerve growth factor (NGF) on the morphology of B50 cells in culture are presented.

Capillary electrophoresis of ultrasmall carboxylate functionalized silicon nanoparticles

“…8 This allows for a wide range of functionalities and should lead to a diverse array of applications for organically modified Si-np. In addition, given the low inherent biotoxicity of Si, 9 it seems likely that the extensive shielding required for the II-VI semiconductors will not be necessary for Si-np, generally yielding smaller overall sizes and hence, less perturbative effects on the system of study.…”

Optical Characterization of Ultrasmall Si Nanoparticles Prepared through Electrochemical Dispersion of Bulk Si

“…[10][11]21 This is strongly supported by comparisons with the computational modeling of ultrasmall Si clusters done recently by several groups. [22][23][24] Shown in Table 3 36 (equal mix of monohydride and dihydride passivation). 22 The reported values for the optical gap and Stokes shift for these clusters are compared to the PL onset and peak-to-peak Stokes shift for the UVB state (see Figure 5 and III-C).…”

Porous silicon in drug delivery devices and materials☆

“…Because the body can handle and eliminate silicic acid, the important issue with porous Si-based drug delivery systems is the rate at which they degrade and resorb [12,14,15,59,60]. The work of Bayliss, Canham, and others established the relatively low toxicity of porous Si in various cellular and live animal systems [21,[61][62][63][64][65][66]. The low toxicity, degradation properties, and solubility of the degradation byproducts of porous Si have generated much interest in its use in controlled drug delivery systems.…”