Flexible Battery-Less Bioelectronic Implants: Wireless Powering and Manipulation by Near-Infrared Light

Bioelectronics, which can provide electrical impulses to precisely modulate the body's neural circuits, spark great interests of industry and academia. Yet the technologies to power and manipulate these devices, such as wireless powering and remote manipulation, remain challenging. Here, by investigating the pyroelectric performances of poly(vinylidene difluoride) (PVDF) and its remote-manipulation ability under near-infrared-ray (nIR) irradiation, a flexible battery-less implantable device is proposed, constructed by laminated graphene-PVDF-graphene sandwiches, which can be wirelessly powered and supply regulatable electrical pulses for nerve stimulation by nIR irradiation. The flexible and compact device (20 mm × 20 mm in area, 0.2 mm in thickness) can generate electrical pulses with controllable amplitude and width, and shows an excellent ability to stimulate nerves, i.e., sciatic nerve of a frog and a rat heart, by remote control. The flexible and remote-manipulative battery-less device should find uses in the design and fabrication of bioelectronics-related applications.