ACS Publications. Most Trusted. Most Cited. Most Read
Self-Powered Medical Implants Using Triboelectric Technology
My Activity
  • Editors Choice
Article

Self-Powered Medical Implants Using Triboelectric Technology
Click to copy article linkArticle link copied!

  • Dong-Min Lee
    Dong-Min Lee
    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea
    Center for Human-Oriented Triboelectric Energy Harvesting, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea
    More by Dong-Min Lee
  • Jinsong Kim
    Jinsong Kim
    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea
    Center for Human-Oriented Triboelectric Energy Harvesting, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea
    More by Jinsong Kim
  • Inah Hyun
    Inah Hyun
    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea
    Center for Human-Oriented Triboelectric Energy Harvesting, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea
    More by Inah Hyun
  • Sang-Woo Kim*
    Sang-Woo Kim
    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea
    Center for Human-Oriented Triboelectric Energy Harvesting, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea
    *E-mail: [email protected]
    More by Sang-Woo Kim
Other Access Options

Accounts of Materials Research

Cite this: Acc. Mater. Res. 2024, 5, 5, 533–543
Click to copy citationCitation copied!
https://doi.org/10.1021/accountsmr.3c00261
Published April 21, 2024
Copyright © 2024 Accounts of Materials Research. Co-published by ShanghaiTech University and American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.

Abstract

Click to copy section linkSection link copied!
Abstract Image
Conspectus

Electronic medicines represent a class of biomedical technology that exploits electrical impulses to achieve diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. They allow patients to identify their physiological conditions themselves through effortless diagnosis methods, no longer confining treatment solely to medical examinations by physicians. Their clinical practices also operate as an alternative therapeutic approach to pharmacological interventions, wherein the electrical impulses are directly administered to biological tissues with minimal adverse effects. However, unlike wearable electronic medicines that offer the convenient replacement of their energy storages, medical implants require surgical removal for recharging energy storages, thereby imposing substantial physical and psychological burdens on patients. To address these challenges, many efforts are widely conducted to develop self-powered medical implants by utilizing energy harvesting technologies to extend the lifetime of energy storages.

Compared to their applications in wearable devices, energy harvesting technologies for powering implantable electronics encounter technical constraints, because the human body exhibits the limited depth penetration of light sources and hemostasis reactions on body temperature. Triboelectric energy harvesting technologies have been highlighted as a promising energy solution of medical implants, exploiting diverse mechanical energy sources to generate electrical energy in vivo. Benefitting from the simple device structure favorable for device miniaturization, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are extensively explored. Herein, we introduce self-powered medical implants driven by the triboelectric mechanism, providing an exposition on their recent research trends. First, we describe the varying device structures and energy generation performances of TENGs, upon their mechanical energy sources with various frequency ranges. Most devices powered by high-frequency energy sources exhibit superior electrical output performances compared to those powered by low-frequency energy sources. However, the current status indicates that these energy solutions still fall short of meeting the energy consumption demands for their instantaneous application in commercialized electronic medicines. As potential solutions to meet the energy consumption demand, we describe material design strategies to aim for high output performance of triboelectric nanogenerators. Beyond their conventional role as mere power supplies for commercialized medical implants, battery-less electronic medicines based on TENGs hold the great potential for diverse clinical applications. This Account also presents our previous studies of self-powered electronic medicines to carry out clinical practices such as wound healing, tissue engineering, neurostimulation, neuroregeneration, and antibacterial activity. Lastly, we illustrate advanced technologies in materials and devices design with their applicability based on the implantation sites and clinical timeline of self-powered electronic medicines. We anticipate that this Account, by sharing our insights, will contribute to the future generation of outstanding achievements for potential readers engaged in the fields of bioelectronics, self-powered systems, and biomedical engineering.

Copyright © 2024 Accounts of Materials Research. Co-published by ShanghaiTech University and American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.

Read this article

To access this article, please review the available access options below.

Get instant access

Purchase Access

Read this article for 48 hours. Check out below using your ACS ID or as a guest.

Recommended

Access through Your Institution

You may have access to this article through your institution.

Your institution does not have access to this content. Add or change your institution or let them know you’d like them to include access.

Cited By

Click to copy section linkSection link copied!
Citation Statements
Explore this article's citation statements on scite.ai

This article is cited by 4 publications.

  1. Yu-Sen Zhang, Shuai Ke, Xiao Hu, Shuang-Ying Wang, Wan-Qi Peng, Xin-Hang Qian, Ling-Hui Tian, Hui-Jun Wu, Bing-Hui Li, Xian-Tao Zeng, Ling-Ling Zhang. Enhancing wound healing through sonodynamic silver/barium titanate heterostructures-loading gelatin/PCL nanodressings. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 2024, 283 , 137648. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.137648
  2. Yichang Quan, Engui Wang, Han Ouyang, Lingling Xu, Lu Jiang, Lijing Teng, Jiaxuan Li, Lin Luo, Xujie Wu, Zhu Zeng, Zhou Li, Qiang Zheng. Biodegradable and Implantable Triboelectric Nanogenerator Improved by β‐Lactoglobulin Fibrils‐Assisted Flexible PVA Porous Film. Advanced Science 2024, 1 https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202409914
  3. Zekun Li, Aifang Yu, Junyi Zhai, Zhong Lin Wang. Sustainable Biopolymers in Eco‐Friendly Triboelectric Energy Harvesting. Advanced Materials 2024, 12 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202412671
  4. Tianxu Zhang, Yunong Zhao, Qiang Long, Xiaowen Zhu, Langyu He, Zhuoyang Li, Xingyu Qian, Xin He, Jiahao Li, Cancan Lv, Yuxing Zha, Yiting Chen, Weiqiang Hong, Qi Hong, Xiaohui Guo. Graphene/MXene/Cellulose cellulosic paper-based flexible bifunctional sensors utilizing molecular bridge strategy with tunable piezoresistive effect for Temperature-Pressure sensing. Chemical Engineering Journal 2024, 497 , 154972. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2024.154972

Accounts of Materials Research

Cite this: Acc. Mater. Res. 2024, 5, 5, 533–543
Click to copy citationCitation copied!
https://doi.org/10.1021/accountsmr.3c00261
Published April 21, 2024
Copyright © 2024 Accounts of Materials Research. Co-published by ShanghaiTech University and American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.

Article Views

2844

Altmetric

-

Citations

Learn about these metrics

Article Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.

Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.

The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated.