Piezoelectric biomaterials have attracted significant attention due to the potential effect of piezoelectricity on biological tissues and their versatile applications. However, the high cost and complexity of assembling and domain aligning biomolecules at a large scale, and the disordered arrangement of piezoelectric domains as well as the lack of ferroelectricity in natural biological tissues remain a roadblock toward practical applications. Here, utilizing the weak van der Waals interaction in the layered structure of small intestinal submucosa (SIS), a van der Waals exfoliation (vdWE) process is reported to fabricate ultrathin films down to the thickness of the effective piezoelectric domain. Based on that, the piezoelectric property is revealed of SIS stemming from the collagen fibril, with piezoelectric coefficients up to 4.1 pm V-1 and in-plane polarization orientation parallel to the fibril axis. Furthermore, a biosensor based on the vdWE-processed SIS film with an in-plane electrode is demonstrated that produces open-circuit voltages of ≈250 mV under the cantilever vibration condition. The vdWE method shows great potential in facilely fabricating ultrathin films of soft tissues and biosensors.
Keywords: layer-by-layer assembly; piezoelectrics; soft tissues; ultrathin films; van der Waals methods.
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