Ruthenium Oxide Electrode Coating Supports 25 Weeks of Intracortical Stimulation
Summary
Researchers evaluated ruthenium-oxide-coated amorphous silicon-carbide microelectrode arrays during 25 weeks of intracortical microstimulation in rodents. Perception thresholds stabilized at about 0.4 nC per phase per electrode by week nine, behavioral performance remained around 91%, and reliable sensation persisted through week 25.
Why it matters
The study provides quantitative behavioral and electrochemical evidence for a coating designed to address the long-term durability bottleneck in sensory neuroprostheses.
BCIwiki (bciwiki.com) — Researchers report that ruthenium oxide-coated microelectrode arrays reliably evoked intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) percepts over a 25-week chronic implantation period, with perception thresholds stabilizing around the ninth week at about 0.4 nC/ph per electrode. The study was published in Journal of neurophysiology on July 27, 2026.The team evaluated RuOx-coated amorphous silicon carbide microelectrode arrays in a rodent go/no-go behavioral paradigm, taking weekly behavioral, electrochemical and local electrophysiological measurements. Perception thresholds showed an exponential-like reduction before stabilizing, behavioral performance remained consistently high (~91%) with stable reaction times, and reliable sensory perception lasted up to 25 weeks, with simultaneous multichannel stimulation across 16 electrodes at about 0.4 nC/ph per electrode. Although the number of detected units per electrode and their peak-to-peak voltages degraded slightly, consistent with other silicon-based MEA studies, the RuOx-coated electrodes reliably evoked sensory percepts throughout the experiment, supporting ruthenium oxide as a durable coating for future ICMS applications.
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