Fully Bioabsorbable Natural-Materials-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerators

Abstract

Implantable medical devices provide an effective therapeutic approach for neurological and cardiovascular diseases. With the development of transient electronics, a new power source with biocompatibility, controllability, and bioabsorbability becomes an urgent demand for medical sciences. Here, various fully bioabsorbable natural-materials-based triboelectric nanogenerators (BN-TENGs), in vivo, are developed. The "triboelectric series" of five natural materials is first ranked, it provides a basic knowledge for materials selection and device design of the TENGs and other energy harvesters. Various triboelectric outputs of these natural materials are achieved by a single material and their pairwise combinations. The maximum voltage, current, and power density reach up to 55 V, 0.6 µA, and 21.6 mW m^-2 , respectively. The modification of silk fibroin encapsulation film makes the operation time of the BN-TENG tunable from days to weeks. After completing its function, the BN-TENG can be fully degraded and resorbed in Sprague-Dawley rats, which avoids a second operation and other side effects. Using the proposed BN-TENG as a voltage source, the beating rates of dysfunctional cardiomyocyte clusters are accelerated and the consistency of cell contraction is improved. This provides a new and valid solution to treat some heart diseases such as bradycardia and arrhythmia.

Keywords: bioabsorbable; biodegradable; natural materials; transient electronics; triboelectric nanogenerators.