A novel piezoelectric device with dual functions of studying biological soft tissues

This paper presents a novel piezoelectric device with dual functions of studying soft biological tissues. The device consists of a central circular plate and a set of flexural beams. The flexural beams are partially covered with piezoelectric layer for integrated transduction. It can function as a force sensor for measuring the mechanical behavior of a tissue sample and a load applier for mimicking physiological loads experienced by the tissue sample in vivo, while the mechanical behavior can be visually observed under a microscope simultaneously. By combining the classic theories in solid mechanics and piezoelectricity, the performance of the piezoelectric device is analyzed. Based on the mechanical behavior obtained from traditional experimental studies on cartilage, the piezoelectric device is designed and optimized for studying cartilage at the micro/nano-scale. The fabrication process for the piezoelectric device is also discussed.