Feasibility of parylene coating for planar electroporation copper electrodes

Abstract

This paper is focused on the feasibility study of parylene as a biocompatible coating for planar electroporation microelectrodes. The planar parallel and the circular interdigitated electrodes are applied in the analysis. The electrodes feature 100 μm width with a 300 μm gap between anode and cathode. The parylene coating thickness was varied in the 250 nm – 2 μm range. The resultant electric field distribution evaluation has been performed using the finite element method. The electrodes have been applied in electroporation experiments with Saprolegnia parasitica. For reference the additional experiments using conventional electroporation cuvette (1 mm gap) have been performed. It has been determined that the parylene coating with hydrophobic properties has limited applicability for the passivation of the planar electroporation electrodes.