Electrochemical biomaterials for self-powered implantable “tissue batteries”: A tutorial review

Currently, due to improvements in living standards, people are paying more attention to all-around disease prevention and health care. Self-powered implantable “tissue batteries” integrated with electrochemical materials are essential for disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, postoperative therapy, and healthcare applications. We propose and define new concepts of “tissue batteries”—self-powered tissue batteries (SPTBs)—are flexible self-powered implantable systems or platforms based on electroactive biomaterials, acting at the interface of biological tissue. Based on the electrical phenomenon of living organisms in life activities, there has been an increased attention to SPTBs for tissue repair promotion. SPTBs take advantages of both the preeminent biocompatibility of biomaterials and the promotion of time-honored electrical stimulation therapy for tissue recovery, which are very promising for human illness treatment. However, studies on clinical applications of SPTBs are impeded by a lack of comprehensive cognitive assessment of SPTBs. Herein, SPTBs for life and health applications are comprehensively reviewed. First, electrochemical materials and their across-the-board applications for several types of SPTBs are introduced and compared with regard to disease prevention, diagnosis, precision therapy, and personalized health monitoring. Then, the potential mechanisms for SPTBs for tissue repair promotion are discussed. Finally, the prospective challenges are summarized and recommendations for future research are provided. This review elucidates on the significance and versatility of SPTBs for various medical applications.