Photoelectric artefact from optogenetics and imaging on microelectrodes and bioelectronics: new challenges and opportunities

Bioelectronics, electronic technologies that interface with biological systems, are experiencing rapid growth in terms of technology development and applications, especially in neuroscience and neuroprosthetic research. The parallel growth with optogenetics and in vivo multi-photon microscopy has also begun to generate great enthusiasm for simultaneous applications with bioelectronic technologies. However, emerging research showing artefact contaminated data highlight the need for understanding the fundamental physical principles that critically impact experimental results and complicate their interpretation. This review covers four major topics: (1) material dependent properties of the photoelectric effect (conductor, semiconductor, organic, photoelectric work function (band gap)); (2) optic dependent properties of the photoelectric effect (single photon, multiphoton, entangled biphoton, intensity, wavelength, coherence); (3) strategies and limitations for avoiding/minimizing photoelectric effects; and (4) advantages of and applications for light-based bioelectronics (photo-bioelectronics). Blue laser photoelectrically and photothermally exciting a wireless carbon fiber electrode to activate a nearby neuron.