Self-powered cardiovascular electronic devices and systems

Cardiovascular electronic devices have enormous benefits for health and quality of life but the long-term operation of these implantable and wearable devices remains a huge challenge owing to the limited life of batteries, which increases the risk of device failure and causes uncertainty among patients. A possible approach to overcoming the challenge of limited battery life is to harvest energy from the body and its ambient environment, including biomechanical, solar, thermal and biochemical energy, so that the devices can be self-powered. This strategy could allow the development of advanced features for cardiovascular electronic devices, such as extended life, miniaturization to improve comfort and conformability, and functions that integrate with real-time data transmission, mobile data processing and smart power utilization. In this Review, we present an update on self-powered cardiovascular implantable electronic devices and wearable active sensors. We summarize the existing self-powered technologies and their fundamental features. We then review the current applications of self-powered electronic devices in the cardiovascular field, which have two main goals. The first is to harvest energy from the body as a sustainable power source for cardiovascular electronic devices, such as cardiac pacemakers. The second is to use self-powered devices with low power consumption and high performance as active sensors to monitor physiological signals (for example, for active endocardial monitoring). Finally, we present the current challenges and future perspectives for the field. The design and limited life of batteries curtails the use of many cardiovascular electronic devices (CEDs). In this Review, Li and colleagues discuss the use of self-powered technology that harvests energy from the body and its ambient environment to power implantable and wearable CEDs. Key points The introduction of implantable or wearable electronic devices has revolutionized diagnosis and therapy in cardiovascular medicine, reducing morbidity and mortality of millions for patients with cardiovascular disease. Current battery-powered cardiovascular electronic devices have a limited life and do not allow long-term, uninterrupted monitoring or treatment of cardiovascular disease, which is crucial for preventing death and/or improving quality of life. Abundant sources of energy exist in the human body and the surrounding environment, such as biomechanical, solar, thermal and biochemical en