Name: fabrication of ti3c2 mxene microelectrode arrays for in vivo neural recording
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This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant no. R21-NS106434), the Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy Taking Flight Award, the Mirowski Family Foundation and Neil and Barbara Smit (F.V.); the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (grant no. DGE-1845298 to N.D. and B.M.); the Army Research Office (Cooperative Agreement Number W911NF-18-2-0026 to K.M.); and by the U.S. Army via the Surface Science Initiative Program at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (PE 0601102A Project VR9 to Y.G. and K.M.). This work was carried out in part at the Singh Center for Nanotechnology, which is supported by the National Science Foundation National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure Program (NNCI-1542153).

All in vivo procedures conformed to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of the University of Pennsylvania.
1. Synthesis of Ti3C2 MXene
NOTE: The reaction procedures described in this section are intended for use inside a chemical fume hood. Washing steps included in this procedure are intended to be used with ...

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The MXene synthesis and delamination procedure described in this protocol (HF/HCl/LiCl) was built from the MILD etching approach which employed a LiF/HCl (in situ HF) etchant medium26. The MILD approach allows for large Ti3C2 flakes (several &#181;m in lateral size) to be spontaneously delaminated during washing once pH ~5&#8722;6 has been attained. Compared to etching with HF alone, this results in material with higher quality and improved material properties, such as electr...

Understanding the fundamental mechanisms underlying neural circuits, and how their dynamics are altered in disease or injury, is a critical goal for developing effective therapeutics for a broad range of neurological and neuromuscular disorders. Microelectrode technologies have been widely used to elucidate neural dynamics on fine spatial and temporal scales. However, obtaining stable recordings with high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) from microscale electrodes has proven to be particularly challenging. As the dimensions of the electrodes are reduced to approach cellular scale, a corresponding rise in electrode impedance degrades signal quality1. Additionally, numerous studies have shown that rigid electrodes comprised of conventional silicon and metal electronic materials produce significant damage and inflammation in the neural tissue, which limits their usefulness for long-term recording2,3,4,5. Given these facts, there has been significant interest in developing microelectrodes with new materials which can reduce the electrode-tissue interface impedance and can be incorporated into soft and flexible form factors.
One commonly used method for reducing the electrode-tissue interface impedance is increasing the area over which ionic species in the extracellular fluid can interact with the electrode, or the &#34;effective surface area&#34; of the electrode. This can be achieved through nanopatterning6, surface roughening7, or electroplating with porous additives8,9. Nanomaterials have gained significant attention in this field because they offer intrinsically high specific surface areas and unique combinations of favorable electrical and mechanical properties10. For example, carbon nanotubes have been used as a coating to significantly reduce electrode impedance11,12,13, graphene oxide has been processed into soft, flexible free-standing probe electrodes14, and laser-pyrolyzed porous graphene has been utilized for flexible, low-impedance micro-electrocorticography (micro-ECoG) electrodes15. Despite their promise, a lack of scalable assembly methods has limited the widespread adoption of nanomaterials for neural interfacing electrodes. Carbon-based nanomaterials in particular are typically hydrophobic, and thus require the use of surfactants16, superacids17, or surface functionalization18 to form aqueous dispersions for solution-processing fabrication methods, while alternative methods of fabrication, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), typically require high temperatures which are incompatible with many polymeric substrates19,20,21,22.
Recently, a class of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, known as MXenes, has been described which offers an exceptional combination of high conductivity, flexibility, volumetric capacitance, and inherent hydrophilicity, making them a promising class of nanomaterials for neural interfacing electrodes23. MXenes are a family of 2D transition metal carbides and nitrides which are most commonly produced by selectively etching the A element from layered precursors. These are typically MAX phases with the general formula Mn+1AXn, where M is an early transition metal, A is a group 12&#8722;16 element of the periodic table, X is carbon and/or nitrogen, and n = 1, 2, or 324. Two-dimensional MXene flakes have surface-terminating functional groups that can include hydroxyl (&#8722;OH), oxygen (&#8722;O) or fluorine (&#8722;F). These functional groups make MXenes inherently hydrophilic and enable flexible surface modification or functionalization. Of the large class of MXenes, Ti3C2 has been the most extensively studied and characterized25,26,27. Ti3C2 shows remarkably higher volumetric capacitance (1,500 F/cm3)28 than activated graphene (~60&#8722;100 F/cm3)29, carbide-derived carbons (180 F/cm3)30, and graphene gel films (~260 F/cm3)31. Furthermore, Ti3C2 shows extremely high electronic conductivity (~10,000 S/cm)32, and its biocompatibility has been demonstrated in several studies33,34,35,36. The high volumetric capacitance of Ti3C2 films is advantageous for biological sensing and stimulation applications, because electrodes that exhibit capacitive charge transfer can avoid potentially harmful hydrolysis reactions.
Our group has recently demonstrated flexible, thin-film Ti3C2 microelectrode arrays, prepared using solution processing methods, which are capable of recording both micro-electrocorticography (micro-ECoG) and intracortical neuronal spiking activity in vivo with high SNR36. These MXene electrodes showed significantly reduced impedance compared to size-matched gold (Au) electrodes, which can be attributed to the high conductivity of MXene and the high surface area of the electrodes. In this protocol, we describe the key steps for fabricating planar microelectrode arrays of Ti3C2 MXene on flexible parylene-C substrates and utilizing them in vivo for intraoperative micro-ECoG recording. This method takes advantage of the hydrophilic nature of MXene, which makes possible the use of solution processing methods that are simple and scalable while not requiring the use of surfactants or superacids to achieve stable aqueous suspensions. This ease of processability may enable cost-effective production of MXene biosensors at industrial scales, which has been a major limitation to the widespread adoption of devices based on other carbon nanomaterials. The key innovation in the electrode fabrication lies in the use of a sacrificial polymeric layer to micropattern the MXene after spin-coating, a method adapted from literature on solution-processed poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) microelectrodes37, but which had not previously been described for patterning MXene. The exceptional electrical properties of Ti3C2, coupled with its processability and 2D morphology make it a very promising material for neural interfaces. In particular, Ti3C2 offers a route towards overcoming the fundamental trade-off between electrode geometric area and electrochemical interface impedance, a primary limiting factor for micro-scale electrode performance. Additionally, the fabrication procedure described in this protocol can be adapted to produce MXene electrode arrays of varying sizes and geometries for different recording paradigms, and can also easily be adapted to incorporate other conductive inks besides MXene.

<table border="1" fo:keep-together.within-page="1" fo:keep-with-next.within-page="always">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>00-90 screw</td>
			<td>McMaster-Carr</td>
			<td>90910A630</td>
			<td>Skull screw around which ground wire is wrapped</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>128ch stimulation/recording controller</td>
			<td>Intan Technologies</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>A component of the neural recording system.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>175 mL polypropylene (PP) conical centrifuge tubes</td>
			<td>Falcon</td>
			<td>REF: 352076</td>
			<td>Used for washing</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>18 position 0.5 mm pitch ZIF connector</td>
			<td>Molex</td>
			<td>505110-1892</td>
			<td>Used to interface the flexible Parylene microelectrode array with the PCB adapter board.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>18 position dual row male nano-miniature (.025&#34;/.64mm) connector</td>
			<td>Omnetics Connector Corporation</td>
			<td>A79008-001</td>
			<td>Used to interface the PCB adapter board to the recording headstage.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>3ML Disposable Plastic Set Transfer Graduated Pipettes</td>
			<td>Rienar</td>
			<td>Rienar-3ML-20PCS</td>
			<td>Used for transferring etchant or MXene solutions</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>50 mL polyproylene (PP) concial centrifuge tube</td>
			<td>Falcon</td>
			<td>REF: 352070</td>
			<td>Used for washing and size selection</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Al etchant Type A</td>
			<td>Transene</td>
			<td>060-0026000-QT</td>
			<td>For removing Al etch mask layer after final Parylene-C etch.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Aluminum Powder, -325 Mesh, 99.5% (metals basis), particle size &#60; 44 &#181;m</td>
			<td>Alfa Aesar</td>
			<td>CAS: 7429-90-5</td>
			<td>Used for MAX synthesis</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>AutoCAD software</td>
			<td>Autodesk Inc.</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Design software for drawing photomasks. Free alternatives include DraftSight and LayoutEditor.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Buffered Oxide Etchant 6:1</td>
			<td>JT Baker</td>
			<td>1178-03</td>
			<td>For removing SiO2 layer to expose MXene electrode contacts at the end of the fabrication procedure.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Buprenorphine SR</td>
			<td>Wildlife Pharmaceuticals</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Analgesia for rat surgery</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Centrifuge</td>
			<td>Hermle</td>
			<td>Benchmark Z 446</td>
			<td>Used for washing and size selection</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dexdomitor</td>
			<td>Midwest Veterinary Supply</td>
			<td>193.13250.3</td>
			<td>Anesthesia for rat surgery</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Drill burr</td>
			<td>Fine Science Tools</td>
			<td>19007-07</td>
			<td>Burrs for drill</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Electric drill</td>
			<td>Foredom</td>
			<td>K.1070</td>
			<td>Micromotor drill for craniotomies</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Electron beam evaporator</td>
			<td>Kurt J. Lesker Company</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Used to evaporate Ti, Au, and SiO2 during fabrication. Most university clean rooms have this or a similar tool.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ground wire</td>
			<td>A-M Systems</td>
			<td>781500</td>
			<td>Bare silver wire</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Headspace Vial, glass</td>
			<td>Supelco</td>
			<td>REF: 27298</td>
			<td>Used for storing MXene solutions</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Hydrochloric acid (12.1N)</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>CAS: 7647-01-0</td>
			<td>Corrosive; etchant material</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Hydrofluoric Acid, (48-51% solution in H2O)</td>
			<td>Acros</td>
			<td>CAS: 7664-39-3</td>
			<td>Etchant material</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Jupiter II RIE system</td>
			<td>March Plasma Systems Inc.</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Planar RIE etching system used to etch the Parylene-C using O2 plasma. Most university clean rooms have a comparable planar RIE etching system.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Kapton standard polyimide tape, 1/4&#34;</td>
			<td>DuPont</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Used to add thickness to the Au bonding pad region of the flexible Parylene microelectrode array for insertion into the ZIF connector.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ketamine</td>
			<td>Hospital of the Univ. of Penn.</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Anesthesia for rat surgery</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>KLA P-7 Stylus Profilometer</td>
			<td>KLA Corporation</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Used the measure 2D profiles to confirm complete etching through the sacrificial parylene-C layer in step 2.4.2. Most university clean rooms have this or a comparable stylus profilometer tool.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Lithium chloride, 99% for analysis, anhydrous</td>
			<td>Acros</td>
			<td>CAS: 7447-41-8</td>
			<td>Hygroscopic; delamination material</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>MA6 mask aligner</td>
			<td>Karl Suss Microtec AG</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Used to align each photomask to the pattern on the wafer and expose the wafer to UV light. Most university clean rooms have this or a similar tool.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Micro-90 cleaning solution</td>
			<td>International Products Corporation</td>
			<td>M-9050-12</td>
			<td>Used as the anti-adhesive layer to enable removal of the sacrificial Parylene-C layer to pattern the MXene</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>NR71-3000p photoresist</td>
			<td>Futurrex Inc.</td>
			<td>NR71-3000p</td>
			<td>Negative photoresist used to define Ti/Au traces and MXene patterns in the devices.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ophthalmic ointment</td>
			<td>Midwest Veterinary Supply</td>
			<td>193.63200.3</td>
			<td>To prevent corneal drying during surgery</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Parylene deposition system</td>
			<td>Specialty Coating Systems</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Used to evaporate thin conformal films of Parylene-C</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Parylene-C dimer</td>
			<td>Specialty Coating Systems</td>
			<td>980130-c-01lbe</td>
			<td>Flexible polymer used as bottom and top passivating layers for the flexible MXene devices</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Photomasks (chrome on soda lime glass)</td>
			<td>University of Pennsylvania</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Our photomasks were produced in the University clean room using a Heidelberg DWL66+ laser writer system, however several vendors manufacture photomasks from provided design files.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Povidone-iodine solution</td>
			<td>Medline</td>
			<td>MDS093901</td>
			<td>To help prevent infection around scalp incision</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Printed Circuit Board (PCB)</td>
			<td>Advanced Circuits</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Used to interface between the MXene electrode array and the measurement electronics such as the potentiostat and the Intan recording system. Advanced Circuits and other vendors manufacture and assemble PCBs based on the provided design files.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>RD6 Developer</td>
			<td>Futurrex Inc.</td>
			<td>RD6 Developer</td>
			<td>Used to develop NR71-3000p negative photoresist following UV exposure</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Reference 600 potentiostat</td>
			<td>Gamry Instruments</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Used to measure the electrodes&#39; impedance to assess quality of the devices</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Remover PG</td>
			<td>MicroChem Corp.</td>
			<td>G050200</td>
			<td>Used to remove NR71-3000p following metal deposition to perform lift-off patterning</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>RHS2000 Stim SPI interface cable</td>
			<td>Intan Technologies</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>A component of the neural recording system.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>RHS2116 amplifier board</td>
			<td>Intan Technologies</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>A component of the neural recording system.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Si wafers</td>
			<td>Wafer World</td>
			<td>2885</td>
			<td>Substrate for fabrication</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Spin Coater</td>
			<td>Cost Effective Equipment</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>For coating wafers with resists and applying the Micro-90 and MXene layers. Most university clean rooms have spin coaters.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Stereotaxic frame</td>
			<td>Kopf Instruments</td>
			<td>Model 902</td>
			<td>For positioning the rat for neurosurgery</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Teflon-coated magnetic stir bar</td>
			<td>Corning</td>
			<td>REF: 1233W95</td>
			<td>Used to stir during etching and intercalation</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Titanium carbide, 99.5% (metals basis), particle size ~2 &#181;m</td>
			<td>Alfa Aesar</td>
			<td>CAS: 12070-08-5</td>
			<td>Used for MAX synthesis</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Titanium powder, -325 mesh, 99% (metals basis), particle size &#60; 44&#181;m</td>
			<td>Alfa Aesar</td>
			<td>CAS: 7440-32-6</td>
			<td>Used for MAX synthesis</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ultrasonic bath sonicator</td>
			<td>Reynolds Tech</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>For removing metal and photoresist particles during lift-off processes to pattern metals.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>UV vis spectrophotometer</td>
			<td>ThermoScientific</td>
			<td>Evolution 201</td>
			<td>Used to determine concentration and observe absorption peak</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Zetasizer, Particle Size Analysis</td>
			<td>Malvern Panalytical</td>
			<td>Nano ZS</td>
			<td>Used to determine particle lateral size distibution</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

fabrication of ti3c2 mxene microelectrode arrays for in vivo neural recording

Implantable microelectrode technologies have been widely used to elucidate neural dynamics at the microscale to gain a deeper understanding of the neural underpinnings of brain disease and injury. As electrodes are miniaturized to the scale of individual cells, a corresponding rise in the interface impedance limits the quality of recorded signals. Additionally, conventional electrode materials are stiff, resulting in a significant mechanical mismatch between the electrode and the surrounding brain tissue, which elicits an inflammatory response that eventually leads to a degradation of the device performance. To address these challenges, we have developed a process to fabricate flexible microelectrodes based on Ti3C2 MXene, a recently discovered nanomaterial that possesses remarkably high volumetric capacitance, electrical conductivity, surface functionality, and processability in aqueous dispersions. Flexible arrays of Ti3C2 MXene microelectrodes have remarkably low impedance due to the high conductivity and high specific surface area of the Ti3C2 MXene films, and they have proven to be exquisitely sensitive for recording neuronal activity. In this protocol, we describe a novel method for micropatterning Ti3C2 MXene into microelectrode arrays on flexible polymeric substrates and outline their use for in vivo micro-electrocorticography recording. This method can easily be extended to create MXene electrode arrays of arbitrary size or geometry for a range of other applications in bioelectronics and it can also be adapted for use with other conductive inks besides Ti3C2 MXene. This protocol enables simple and scalable fabrication of microelectrodes from solution-based conductive inks, and specifically allows harnessing the unique properties of hydrophilic Ti3C2 MXene to overcome many of the barriers that have long hindered the widespread adoption of carbon-based nanomaterials for high-fidelity neural microelectrodes.

Sample micro-ECoG data recorded on a MXene microelectrode array is shown in Figure 5. Following application of the electrode array onto the cortex, clear physiologic signals were immediately apparent on the recording electrodes, with approximately 1 mV amplitude ECoG signals appearing on all MXene electrodes. Power spectra of these signals confirmed the presence of two brain rhythms commonly observed in rats under ketamine-dexmedetomidine anesthesia: 1&#8722;2 Hz slow oscillations and &#947;...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Fabrication of Ti3C2 MXene Microelectrode Arrays for In Vivo Neural Recording at JoVE.com

Fabrication of Ti3C2 MXene Microelectrode Arrays for In Vivo Neural Recording

We describe here a method for fabricating Ti3C2 MXene microelectrode arrays and utilizing them for in vivo neural recording.

Fabrication of Ti3C2 MXene Microelectrode Arrays for In Vivo Neural Recording

Implantable microelectrode technologies have been widely used to elucidate neural dynamics at the microscale to gain a deeper understanding of the neural ...

This synthesis protocol produces high-quality MXene ink with a metallic conductivity that reaches above 10, 000 Siemens per centimeter. The main advantage of this technique is that it enables the precise micro-patterning of MXene films without damaging the film or leaving harmful residues on the electrodes. To prepare a titanium carbide ink, slowly add two grams of titanium aluminum carbide precursor to a 125 milliliter reaction container containing selective etching solution and stir the solution with a Teflon magnetic bar for 24 hours at 35 degrees Celsius at 400 rotations per minute.At the end of the incubation, add 50 milliliters of deionized water to two 175 milliliter centrifuge tubes, split the etching reaction mixture equally between the tubes, and fill to the 150 milliliter mark. Wash the material by repeated centrifugation, decanting the acidic supernatant into a plastic hazardous waste container and adding fresh water to the tubes between centrifugation steps until the pH of the supernatant solution reaches above pH six. For intercalation of the molecules between multilayer MXene particle to weaken out of plane interactions, add two grams of lithium chloride to 100 milliliters of deionized water and stir the solution at 200 rotations per minute.When the lithium chloride has dissolved, mix 100 milliliters of the lithium chloride solution with the titanium carbide titanium aluminum carbide sediment. Transfer the solution back to the 125 milliliter plastic container and stir the reaction for 12 hours at 25 degrees Celsius and 200 rotations per minute. For delamination from the bulk multilayer particle into single to few layer titanium carbide MXene, wash the intercalation solution with multiple centrifugations, decanting the clear supernatant until a dark supernatant is observed.Then centrifuge the dark supernatant for one hour before decanting the diluted green supernatant. Redisperse the swollen sediment with 150 milliliters of deionized water and split the solution equally into three 50 milliliter centrifuge tubes. Centrifuge the samples to separate the remaining MXene sediment from the MXene supernatant and pool the supernatants into a single container.Then centrifuge the solution for an additional hour for further size selection and optimization of the solution to isolate single to few layer flakes. For titanium carbide microelectrode array fabrication, deposit a four micrometer thick bottom layer of Parylene-C onto a clean silicon wafer. To use photolithography to define metal patterns on the wafer, spin coat photoresist onto the wafer at 3, 000 rotations per minute for 40 seconds before soft baking the wafer on a hot plate for 14.5 minutes at 95 degrees Celsius.Next, load the wafer and mask one into a mask aligner with the wafer positioned so that the ring on the photo mask overlaps with all of the edges of the wafer. Expose the wafer with 365 nanometer wavelengths of eye line at a 90 millijoule per centimeter squared dose and hard bake the wafer on a hot plate for one minute at 115 degrees Celsius. At the end of the hard bake, immerse the wafer in RD6 developer for two minutes with continuous agitation before rinsing thoroughly with deionized water and blow drying with a nitrogen gun.Use an electron beam evaporator to deposit 10 nanometers of titanium followed by 100 nanometers of gold onto the wafer. Then immerse the wafer in solvent stripper for about 10 minutes until the photoresist has dissolved and the excess metal has fully lifted off. Once the liftoff appears complete, sonicate the wafer for 30 seconds to remove any remaining traces of unwanted metal and rinse the wafer with fresh solvent stripper and deionized water before drying with a nitrogen gun.At the end of the liftoff process, gold will be visible in the desired interconnect traces and in the ring around the edge of the wafer. For deposition of the sacrificial Parylene-C layer, first expose the wafer to oxygen plasma for 30 seconds to render the underlying Parylene-C layer hydrophilic before spin coating dilute cleaning solution onto the wafer at 1, 000 rotations per minute for 30 seconds. Allow the wafer to air dry for at least five minutes before depositing three micrometers of Parylene-C onto the wafer as demonstrated.Following a second round of photolithography using mask two, use oxygen plasma reactive ion etching to etch through the sacrificial Parylene-C layer in the areas not covered by the photoresist to define the MXene electrodes and traces. The etching should partially overlap with the titanium gold interconnects as well as the ring around the edges of the wafer. Then use a profilometer to measure the profile between the exposed titanium and gold interconnects and the bottom Parylene-C layer to confirm a complete etching of the sacrificial Parylene-C layer.To spin coat the MXene solution onto the wafer, first dispense the solution onto each of the desired MXene patterns before spinning the wafer at 1, 000 rotations per minute for 40 seconds. Dry the wafer on a 120 degree Celsius hot plate for 10 minutes to remove any residual water from the MXene film then use an electron beam evaporator to deposit a protected 50 nanometer silicon dioxide layer onto the wafer. To remove the sacrificial Parylene-C layer, place a small drop of deionized water on the edge of the wafer and use tweezers to peel up the sacrificial Parylene-C layer starting from where the edges of the layer are defined in the ring around the outside of the wafer.Next, rinse the wafer thoroughly with fresh deionized water to remove any remaining cleaning solution residue and dry the wafer with a nitrogen gun. Place the dried wafer on a 120 degree Celsius hot plate for one hour to remove any residual water from the patterned MXene films before depositing a four micrometer thick layer of Parylene-C onto the wafer as demonstrated. After performing another round of photolithography with mask three, use an electron beam evaporator to deposit 100 nanometer aluminum onto the wafer and immerse the wafer in solvent stripper for 10 minutes until the metal has completely lifted off of the wafer.After sonication, rinsing, and drying as demonstrated, aluminum can be observed covering the devices with openings for the electrodes and bonding pads. Use oxygen plasma reactive ion etching to etch through the Parylene-C layers surround the devices and through the top Parylene-C layer covering both the MXene electrode contacts and the gold bonding pads. When no Parylene-C residue remains on the wafer between devices, use a wet chemical etch in aluminum etchant type A at 50 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes or until one minute passed when all visual traces of the aluminum have disappeared.To etch the silicon oxide covering the MXene electrodes, use a wet chemical etch in six-to-one buffered oxide etchant for 30 seconds. Then place a small drop of deionized water at the end of the device. Gently peel up the device as water is wicked underneath the device by capillary action to release the device from the silicon substrate wafer.Here, sample micro-electrocorticography data recorded on a MXene microelectrode array is shown. The putative cortical DOWN states are based on the trough of the slow oscillation at one to two hertz. Following application of the electrode array onto the cortex, clear physiologic signals were immediately apparent on the recording electrodes with approximately one millivolt amplitude electrocorticography signals appearing on all of the MXene electrodes.Power spectra of these signals confirmed the presence of two brain rhythms commonly observed in rats under ketamine dexmedetomidine anesthesia, one to two hertz slow oscillations and gamma oscillations at 40 to 70 hertz. Additionally, a signature broadband power attenuation during the DOWN state of the slow oscillation and a selective 15 to 30 hertz beta band and 40 to 120 hertz gamma band power amplification during the UP state of the slow oscillation were observed. Optimization of the synthesis method has allowed expansion of the use of MXenes into other applications such as in optoelectronic devices, smart textiles, and more.This procedure involves the use of dangerous chemicals including hydrofluoric acid, aluminum etchant, and photoresist developer. Be sure to always use the appropriate PPE when handling these chemicals.

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