One-step, high-speed, thermal-electric aerosol printing of piezoelectric bio-organic movies

Amidst the continuing surge in demand for bio-MEMS, wearable/implantable electronics and bio-tissue therapeutics, the pursuit of piezoelectric biomaterials has change into a precedence, because of their exceptional electromechanical properties, biocompatibility, and bioresorbability.

Nevertheless, their technological potential is restrained by the challenges of exact manipulation of nano-biomolecules, controlling their progress throughout the nano-to-macro hierarchy, and tuning fascinating mechanical properties.

Because the discovery of organic piezoelectricity in wool and hair in 1941, makes an attempt to activate piezoelectricity in biomaterials via exterior electrical poling have confirmed largely unsuccessful. For 80 years, the problem has remained unaddressed, forming an enormous hole between laboratory piezoelectric biomaterials and sensible bio-devices.

Our analysis workforce led by The Hong Kong College of Science and Know-how (HKUST) has developed a breakthrough expertise that makes use of thermal-electrically triggered aerosols to manufacture versatile piezoelectric biofilms. The work is revealed within the journal Science Advances.

The developed thermal-electric aerosol (TEA) printer is able to one-step, high-speed, and roll-to-roll printing of piezoelectric biofilms for the manufacturing of miniaturized/versatile bioelectronics, wearable/implantable micro-devices and bio-tissue therapeutics, providing the potential of industrial manufacturing of piezoelectric biofilms.

The mix of top-down design freedom supplied by additive manufacturing and bottom-up management over nano-biomolecules showcases the feasibility and boundless prospects of bridging the hole between laboratory piezoelectric biomaterials and sensible bio-devices.

Conventional biomolecular meeting strategies usually require intensive self-aligning time (from ~0.5 h to ~48 h), which not solely brings difficulties for high-speed manufacturing, but in addition results in undesired structural defects.

In contrast, the TEA printer, utilizing electrohydrodynamic aerosolizing and in-situ electrical poling, permits for ~8,600 mm printing size per day, two orders of magnitude sooner than the present strategies.

The glycine/polyvinylpyrrolidone movies we produced display the piezoelectric voltage coefficient of 190 × 10⁻³ volt-meters per newton, surpassing that of broadly used industry-standard lead zirconate titanate by roughly 10-fold. Moreover, these movies display almost two orders of magnitude enchancment in mechanical flexibility in comparison with glycine crystals.

Our TEA printer exhibits printing functionality for wide-ranging lessons of biomaterials reminiscent of glycine, chitosan, and poly(L-lactic acid). The subsequent part of analysis will concentrate on leveraging the TEA printing and piezoelectric biomaterial libraries, in addition to machine-learning-guided design methods to speed up the event of a broad vary of piezoelectric biomaterials for versatile bioelectronics and bio-tissues therapeutics.

This story is a part of Science X Dialog, the place researchers can report findings from their revealed analysis articles. Go to this web page for details about Science X Dialog and the right way to take part.

Li Xuemu is now a Postdoc fellow in Mechanical Engineering on the Hong Kong College of Science and Know-how (HKUST). His analysis pursuits embody superior manufacturing, piezoelectric/ferroelectric, biomaterials, versatile electronics and comfortable robotics, biomedical engineering, MEMS, sensors, vitality harvesting, and ultrasonic transducers.