Ultrastable piezoelectric biomaterial nanofibers and fabrics as an implantable and conformal electromechanical sensor patch

Abstract

Poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) is a widely used U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved implantable biomaterial that also possesses strong piezoelectricity. However, the intrinsically low stability of its high-energy piezoelectric β phase and random domain orientations associated with current synthesis approaches remain a critical roadblock to practical applications. Here, we report an interfacial anchoring strategy for fabricating core/shell PLLA/ glycine (Gly) nanofibers (NFs) by electrospinning, which show a high ratio of piezoelectric β phase and excellent orientation alignment. The self-assembled core/shell structure offers strong intermolecular interactions between the -OH groups on Gly and C=O groups on PLLA, which promotes the crystallization of oriented PLLA polymer chains and stabilizes the β phase structure. As-received core/shell NFs exhibit substantially enhanced piezoelectric performance and excellent stability. An all NF-based nonwoven fabric is fabricated and assembled as a flexible nanogenerator. The device offers excellent conformality to heavily wrinkled surfaces and thus can precisely detect complex physiological motions often found from biological organs.