Triboelectric pacemaker powered by cardiac contractions

Triboelectric pacemaker powered by cardiac contractions

Usually modern pacemakers are powered by built-in batteries and you need to replace the pulse generator when the battery reaches end of life. What if the device gets charged itself using energy of cardiac contractions? That is exactly what a triboelectric pacemaker powered by cardiac contractions aims to achieve. Triboelectric effect is typically the static electricity which is generated when a plastic comb is used on dry hair. Researchers have tested a symbiotic cardiac pacemaker which uses an implantable triboelectric nanogenerator (iTENG) which harvests energy from cardiac contractions and stores in a capacitor [1].

The iTENG can harvest 0.495 μJ of energy during each cardiac contraction, while only  0.377 μJ is required for a pacing cycle for endocardial pacing. Nanostructured polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) thin film was one triboelectric layer in the patch applied over the left ventricle of the experimental animal to harvest energy. Spacer layer was a three dimensional (3D) elastic sponge (ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer). Memory alloy ribbon made of highly resilient titanium was utilized as the keel. The whole assembly was enclosed in a flexible Teflon film and a polydimethylsiloxane layer.

The triboelectric nanogenerator was placed between the heart and pericardium with the PTFE layer facing the left ventricle. Cardiac contractions caused periodic contact and separation of the two triboelectric layers, generating energy, which was stored in a 100 μF capacitor through a rectifier. The capacitor could be charged from 0 to 3.55 V within 190 minutes in the large animal model. They could use the stored energy to pace the animal at 3 V with pulse width of 0.5 ms. This could be used to correct experimental sinus node dysfunction induced by local hypothermia.

This is just a proof of concept study which is quite encouraging. But we need much more technological developments to enable clinical use. Finally, the longevity of the device and biocompatibility of the materials used in the long term should be proved beyond doubt before we can ever dream of a heart powered pacemaker for the heart.

Reference

1. Ouyang H, Liu Z, Li N, Shi B, Zou Y, Xie F, Ma Y, Li Z, Li H, Zheng Q, Qu X, Fan Y, Wang ZL, Zhang H, Li Z. Symbiotic cardiac pacemaker. Nature Communications. 2019;10:1821.