Grainger VIP Impact Report

XUDONG WANG Professor Associate Chair of Named MS Studies Department of Materials Science and Engineering We published eight papers, were awarded two patents, and filed two new patents. These works are centered around sustainable and eco-friendly materials for energy and public health. Among them, one significant achievement is the development of stretchable piezoelectric bio organic crystalline films, which were published in Nature Communication and patented by WARF. Piezoelectric property has tremendous application potential in a broad range of biomedical applications, such as physiological sensing, ultrasound, low-voltage modulation, and self-sufficient energy supply. How to introduce tissue-like mechanical properties, particularly stretchability, is a critical roadblock for the development of next-generation wearable and implantable piezoelectric devices. In this work, we developed a stretchable piezoelectric thin film that can withstand up to 40 percent tensile strain along different directions without impairing the structural integrity or piezoelectric performance. The film comprises a truss-like network that is self-assembled from DL alanine microfibers. Through the deformation of truss meshes, large tensile strain can be achieved without implementing high strains to the crystal lattices. Therefore, the network can be bent or twisted arbitrarily with all mechanical properties well matched to those of human tissues, such as skin and muscle. This material innovation is a step toward stretchable, wearable, implantable, and even degradable piezoelectric devices that may find broad applications in future bioelectronics.

29

WISCONSIN FOUNDATION AND ALUMNI ASSOCIATION | 608-263-4545 | SUPPORTUW.ORG