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Design considerations for piezocomposite materials for electrical stimulation in medical implants
Krech, Ember Haas, Evan Tideman, Grace Reinsch, Bonnie Friis, Elizabeth
Krech, Ember
Haas, Evan
Tideman, Grace
Reinsch, Bonnie
Friis, Elizabeth
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Abstract
Incidence of non-union following long bone fracture fixation and spinal fusion procedures is increasing, and very costly for patients and the medical system. Direct current (DC) electrical stimulation has shown success as an adjunct therapy to stimulate bone healing and increase surgery success rates, though drawbacks of current devices and implantable battery packs have limited widespread use. Energy harvesting utilising piezoelectric materials has been widely studied for powering devices without a battery, and a preclinical animal study has shown efficacy of a piezocomposite spinal fusion implant resulting in faster, more robust fusion. Most piezoelectric energy harvesters operate most effectively at high frequencies, limiting power generation from loads experienced by orthopaedic implants during human motion. This work characterises the efficient power generation capability of a novel composite piezoelectric material under simulated walking loads. Building on compliant layer adaptive composite stacks (CLACS), the power generation of mixed-mode CLACS (MMCLACS) is defined. Utilising poling direction to capitalise on in-plane strain generation due to compliant layer expansion, MMCLACS significantly increased power output compared to a standard piezo stack. The combination of radial and through-thickness poled piezoelectric elements within a stack to create MMCLACS significantly increases power generation under low-frequency dynamic loads. This technology can be adapted to a variety of architectures and assembled as a load-bearing energy harvester within current implants. MMCLACS integrated with implants would provide enough power to deliver bone healing electrical stimulation directly to the fusion site, decreasing non-union rates, and also could provide quantitative assessment of healing progression through load sensing.
Description
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Medical Engineering & Technology on 08 Jun 2022, available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03091902.2022.2080881.
Date
2022
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Taylor and Francis Group
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Keywords
Bioelectric energy sources, Electrical stimulation, Fracture healing, Spinal fusion, Smart materials, Sensing materials
Citation
Krech, E., Haas, E., Tideman, G., Reinsch, B., & Friis, E. (2022). Design considerations for piezocomposite materials for electrical stimulation in medical implants. Journal of medical engineering & technology, 46(5), 402–414. https://doi.org/10.1080/03091902.2022.2080881