The potential of organic piezoelectric materials for next-generation implantable biomedical devices

Piezoelectricity or piezoelectric effect is a phenomenon by which mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy and vice versa. Piezoelectric effect has been observed in several organic materials. Therefore, in past few years organic piezoelectric materials have received significant research interests in biomedical applications and specifically for fabrication of implantable biomedical devices because of their high piezoelectric performance, excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability, superior mechanical properties, and cheap fabrication process. This article provides a comprehensive review of the recent research progress on organic piezoelectric materials. It extensively covers the piezoelectric properties and preparation methods of different organic piezoelectric materials including amino acids, peptides, proteins, polysaccharides, and polymers (such as PVDF, PLLA, PHB), as well as their representative implantable biomedical device applications namely biosensing, tissue regeneration, and drug delivery. Finally, the article discusses the challenges and future directions of this research field.