Transparent electrodes in neuroscience: Review

Transparent electrodes have received increasing attention in neuroscience area such as neural interfaces, optogenetics and implantable neural sensors due to their unique ability to combine electrical conductivity with optical transparency, enabling simultaneous neural recording and stimulation without hindering optical techniques. This review concludes transparent electrodes into five categories including metal oxide-based, metal nanowire-based, conductive polymer-based, carbon-based as well as Hybrid materials and composite structure. Starting from the most widely used and earliest transparent material ITO, this review progressively covers the latest advances in hybrid materials and composite structures. For each classical material in different categories, their drawbacks, merits and current situations are introduced. Then the applications of transparent electrodes in the field of neuroscience are introduced, especially in relation to specific disease treatments. The application prospects of transparent electrodes in the field of neurology are broad, but they still face many technical challenges and problems. The future research should explore long-term implanted neural interfaces.