Stretchable Encapsulation Materials with High Dynamic Water Resistivity and Tissue-Matching Elasticity

Autor: Yan Shao, Shan Yan, Jun Li, Zulmari Silva-Pedraza, Ting Zhou, Marvin Hsieh, Bo Liu, Tong Li, Long Gu, Yunhe Zhao, Yutao Dong, Bo Yin, Xudong Wang
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
ISSN: 1944-8252
1944-8244
Popis: Flexible implantable medical devices (IMDs) are an emerging technology that may substantially improve the disease treatment efficacy and quality of life of patients. While many advancements have been achieved in IMDs, the constantly straining application conditions impose extra requirements for the packaging material, which needs to retain both high stretchability and high water resistivity under dynamic strains in a physiological environment. This work reports a polyisobutylene (PIB) blend-based elastomer that simultaneously offers a tissue-like elastic modulus and excellent water resistivity under dynamic strains. The PIB blend is a homogeneous mixture of two types of PIB molecules with distinct molecular weights. The blend achieved an optimal Young’s modulus of 62 kPa, matching those of soft biological tissues. The PIB blend film also exhibited an extremely low water permittivity of 1.6–2.9 g m(−2) day(−1), from unstrained to 50% strain states. The combination of high flexibility and dynamic water resistivity was tested using triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). The PIB blend-packaged TENG was able to stably operate in water for 2 weeks, substantially surpassing the protection offered by Ecoflex. This work offered a promising material solution for packaging flexible IMDs to achieve stable performance in a strained physiological environment.
Databáze: OpenAIRE