In Vivo Self-Powered Wireless Transmission Using Biocompatible Flexible Energy Harvester

The practical use of the biomechanical energy was demonstrated with a flexible single crystal PMN-PZT energy harvester. We demonstrated self-powered wireless data transmission enabled by harvesting in vivo biomechanical energy derived from cardiac motions in large animal model, using high performance flexible piezoelectric energy harvester. From the contraction and relaxation of a porcine heart, the single-crystalline flexible energy harvester generated open-circuit voltage of 17.8V and short-circuit current of 1.74μA, which are greater by a factor of 4.45 and 17.4 respectively, compared to previous research of in vivo energy harvesting. Also, various cell viability test and histological analysis were conducted to show the biocompatibility of the flexible PMN-PZT energy harvester, which revealed no sign of biological damage and inflammatory reaction. Finally, we demonstrated wireless data transmission using self-powered system driven by porcine heartbeat. It was also proved visually by repeatedly switching on and off a light bulb in long distance of about 5m without any other power source. This successful self-powered wireless data transmission shows the possibility of powerful application to implantable biomedical devices directly using biomechanical energy.