TY - JOUR
T1 - Development of battery-free neural interface and modulated control of tibialis anterior muscle via common peroneal nerve based on triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs)
AU - Lee, Sanghoon
AU - Wang, Hao
AU - Shi, Qiongfeng
AU - Dhakar, Lokesh
AU - Wang, Jiahui
AU - Thakor, Nitish V.
AU - Yen, Shih Cheng
AU - Lee, Chengkuo
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the financial support from following research grants: NRF-CRP8-2011-01 Program ‘Self-powered body sensor for disease management and prevention-orientated healthcare’ (R-263-000-A27-281), and NRF-CRP10-2012-01 Program ‘Peripheral Nerve Prostheses: A Paradigm Shift in Restoring Dexterous Limb Function’ (R-719-000-001–281) from the National Research Foundation (NRF), Singapore and Faculty Research Committee (FRC) grant (R-263-000-B56-112) “Thermoelectric Power Generator (TEG) Based Self-Powered ECG Plaster – System Integration (Part 3)” at the National University of Singapore.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2017/3/1
Y1 - 2017/3/1
N2 - Flexible and stretchable electronics, also known as e-skin, have been a technology to create diversified sensors and wearable devices. Implantable bioelectronics have recently been recognized as a promising research field to modulate biological signals and treat many diseases and pathological conditions. The marriage of two technologies gives us a new cutting-edge research area, i.e., implantable flexible electronics. While strain sensors, ECG sensors, pH sensors, temperature sensors and LED chips have been integrated together as a novel platform for measuring physiological signals, one of critical challenges for long-term use of such devices is a reliable power source with sound output power. To support operation of the implantable bioelectronics, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have recently been explored, as a promising technology to harvest energy, as the concept of scavenging human body energy into useful electrical power. In this work, we investigate stacked TENGs with output voltage of 160 Vp-p and a short circuit current of 6.7 µA as a potential power source for neural stimulation using flexible and adjustable neural interfaces. To advance a generic design of flexible neural interfaces which is good at sciatic nerve recording and stimulation, we optimize a new flexible sling electrode and successfully achieve neural signal recording with different amplitudes and latencies. More importantly, successful selective stimulation achieved in this work proves that the flexible sling electrode is a good generic neural interface. We demonstrate direct stimulation of a sciatic nerve and a common peroneal nerve in rats by the TENGs connected with the suggested interface and a pair of Pt/Ir wires, respectively, while monitoring muscle signals. The muscle contraction can be controlled by the operation of the TENGs. This prove-concept result indicates that this technology could be the way of realizing battery-free wearable neuromodulators in the future.
AB - Flexible and stretchable electronics, also known as e-skin, have been a technology to create diversified sensors and wearable devices. Implantable bioelectronics have recently been recognized as a promising research field to modulate biological signals and treat many diseases and pathological conditions. The marriage of two technologies gives us a new cutting-edge research area, i.e., implantable flexible electronics. While strain sensors, ECG sensors, pH sensors, temperature sensors and LED chips have been integrated together as a novel platform for measuring physiological signals, one of critical challenges for long-term use of such devices is a reliable power source with sound output power. To support operation of the implantable bioelectronics, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have recently been explored, as a promising technology to harvest energy, as the concept of scavenging human body energy into useful electrical power. In this work, we investigate stacked TENGs with output voltage of 160 Vp-p and a short circuit current of 6.7 µA as a potential power source for neural stimulation using flexible and adjustable neural interfaces. To advance a generic design of flexible neural interfaces which is good at sciatic nerve recording and stimulation, we optimize a new flexible sling electrode and successfully achieve neural signal recording with different amplitudes and latencies. More importantly, successful selective stimulation achieved in this work proves that the flexible sling electrode is a good generic neural interface. We demonstrate direct stimulation of a sciatic nerve and a common peroneal nerve in rats by the TENGs connected with the suggested interface and a pair of Pt/Ir wires, respectively, while monitoring muscle signals. The muscle contraction can be controlled by the operation of the TENGs. This prove-concept result indicates that this technology could be the way of realizing battery-free wearable neuromodulators in the future.
KW - Flexible electronics
KW - Implantable bioelectronics
KW - Neural interface
KW - Selective stimulation
KW - Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG)
KW - e-Skin
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85010014405&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85010014405&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.nanoen.2016.12.038
DO - 10.1016/j.nanoen.2016.12.038
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85010014405
SN - 2211-2855
VL - 33
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Nano Energy
JF - Nano Energy
ER -