Dr. Mosaieb Habib of the Chair of Inorganic Solid State and Materials Chemistry has succeeded in publishing a publication on material development derived from his doctoral thesis.
The work describes a platinum-based coating for neural electrodes, such as those employed in cochlear implants. For the first time, therapeutically active agents can be released from the platinum surface due to the innovative and patented material architecture of the coating. These agents could, for example, mitigate inflammatory reactions in the inner ear resulting from the implantation trauma. Consequently, scar tissue formation would be reduced, potentially improving the signal transduction of the electrode.
The material is produced by electrochemical deposition of platinum around a packed structure of nanoporous silica nanoparticles, which are encased in a polymer shell. These core–shell nanoparticles are firmly embedded within the platinum. Subsequently, the polymer shells are removed, creating sufficient space for the loading and release of active agents. The highly porous surface of the silica nanoparticles markedly increases the capacity for drug release, while the chemical nature of the nanoparticle surface additionally enables tailored interactions with the desired drug. The publication details the material architecture and presents a proof-of-concept for drug release and its biological effect.
This work was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy within the Cluster of Excellence EXC 2177/1 “Hearing4all” (https://hearing4all.de/, ProjectID 390895286).
The full work can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.202501958
