Growing recyclable and healable piezoelectric composites in 3D printed bioinspired structure for protective wearable sensor

Qingqing He; Yushun Zeng; Laiming Jiang; Ziyu Wang; Gengxi Lu; Haochen Kang; Pei Li; Brandon Bethers; Shengwei Feng; Lizhi Sun; Peter Sun; Chen Gong; Jie Jin; Yue Hou; Runjian Jiang; Wenwu Xu; Eugene Olevsky; Yang Yang

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-41740-6

Growing recyclable and healable piezoelectric composites in 3D printed bioinspired structure for protective wearable sensor

Nat Commun. 2023 Oct 14;14(1):6477. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-41740-6.

Authors

Qingqing He^#¹, Yushun Zeng^#², Laiming Jiang^#³, Ziyu Wang⁴, Gengxi Lu², Haochen Kang², Pei Li⁵, Brandon Bethers¹, Shengwei Feng⁶, Lizhi Sun⁶, Peter Sun⁷, Chen Gong², Jie Jin⁸, Yue Hou⁵, Runjian Jiang¹, Wenwu Xu¹, Eugene Olevsky¹, Yang Yang⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA.
² Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA.
³ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China.
⁴ The Institute of Technological Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China. zywang@whu.edu.cn.
⁵ The Institute of Technological Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China.
⁶ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine, California, CA, 92697, USA.
⁷ Grossmont College, 8800 Grossmont College Dr, El Cajon, CA, 92020, USA.
⁸ Canoo Technologies Inc, Torrance, CA, 90503, USA.
⁹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA. yyang10@sdsu.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Bionic multifunctional structural materials that are lightweight, strong, and perceptible have shown great promise in sports, medicine, and aerospace applications. However, smart monitoring devices with integrated mechanical protection and piezoelectric induction are limited. Herein, we report a strategy to grow the recyclable and healable piezoelectric Rochelle salt crystals in 3D-printed cuttlebone-inspired structures to form a new composite for reinforcement smart monitoring devices. In addition to its remarkable mechanical and piezoelectric performance, the growth mechanisms, the recyclability, the sensitivity, and repairability of the 3D-printed Rochelle salt cuttlebone composite were studied. Furthermore, the versatility of composite has been explored and applied as smart sensor armor for football players and fall alarm knee pads, focusing on incorporated mechanical reinforcement and electrical self-sensing capabilities with data collection of the magnitude and distribution of impact forces, which offers new ideas for the design of next-generation smart monitoring electronics in sports, military, aerospace, and biomedical engineering.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Electricity
Printing, Three-Dimensional
Sports*
Wearable Electronic Devices*