Fully biodegradable pressure sensor, viscoelastic behavior of PGS dielectric elastomer upon degradation

A new class of sensors, entirely made from biodegradable materials, biocompatible with the human body and safe for the environment, is emerging. In this work, we present a fully biodegradable pressure sensor, where a key layer is the dielectric that consists of a regularly microstructured thin biodegradable rubber. This layer is compressible and makes the device highly sensitive to pressure. An in vitro biodegradation study is performed to investigate the viscoelastic behavior of the PGS dielectric layer upon degradation. It is shown that PGS has a very limited hysteresis and viscoelasticity behavior, with no significant change even after being exposed for 7 weeks to body mimicking solution, favorable for sensor application. This biodegradable sensor provides unprecedented sensitivity, several orders of magnitude higher than state-of-the-art, allowing the continuous monitoring of blood artery pulse waves.