A review on fabrication and in vivo applications of piezoelectric nanocomposites for energy harvesting

Energy-based piezoelectric nanocomposites have received a great deal of attention due to their wide range of applications in electronics, sensors, actuators, and tissue engineering. Polymeric piezoelectric nanocomposites have good mechanical flexibility, lower manufacturing cost, suitable output voltage, and fast processing compared to ceramic based composites. In this paper a comprehensive review is conducted on the polymer-based nanocomposites that exhibit the piezoelectric effect. The most important fabrication strategies for piezoelectric polymer nanocomposites and the in vivo applications of these materials are investigated in this paper. The challenges/limitations associated with synthesis and preparation techniques of these materials are mentioned. Finally, a road map for future studies is provided. It was found that piezoelectric nanocomposites are characterized with greater functionality for harvesting energy from unwanted mechanical vibration sources and in vivo movements. In general, commercialization and market growth of piezoelectric nanocomposites are highly related to two important factors, including enhancement in energy performance of related systems to match with the need and cost decrease to compete with traditional piezo-ceramics. As a result, it can be concluded that the electrospun piezoelectric nanocomposites are appropriate candidates for in vivo applications due to their high surface-to-volume ratio, sufficient porosity, high electrical properties, and biocompatibility.