Aligned carbon nanotube-based flexible gel substrates for engineering bio-hybrid tissue actuators.

Muscle-based biohybrid actuators have generated significant interest as the future of biorobotics but so far they move without having much control over their actuation behavior. Integration of microelectrodes into the backbone of these systems may enable guidance during their motion and allow precise control over these actuators with specific activation patterns. Here, we addressed this challenge by developing aligned CNT forest microelectrode arrays and incorporated them into scaffolds for stimulating the cells.

Fabrication of three-dimensional carbon nanotube and metal oxide hybrid mesoporous architectures.

Three-dimensional (3D) vertically aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) patterns were utilized as templates for fabricating mesoporous hybrid architectures composed of CNTs and various crystalline metal oxide (MO; M = Co, Zn, Mn) nanoparticles by a microwave-assisted chemical approach. Post-synthesis thermal treatment of the CNT/MO patterns culminated in structural reorganization, depending on the treatment conditions. In air, CNTs were removed by oxidation.