Implantable medical devices and integrated wireless healthcare sensors are attracting extensive attention, but the batteries used for powering these devices usually display a limited lifetime. Although battery technology has improved, sustainable power sources for cardiac pacemakers, neural stimulators and other implantable biomedical devices are required. Mechanical energy was considered as one of most abundant and accessible energy sources around the human body. When a small system can efficiently convert mechanical energy in our daily life, this system would be a suitable solution for electricity generation and significantly extend the lifetime of the electronic devices, especially in medical area.

Recently, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has attracted much attention and been considered as another potential solution for harvesting mechanical energy. With its high output performance, outstanding biocompatibility and low cost, TENG has been studied for powering implantable medical electronic devices. Here, we demonstrated an in vivo biomechanical-energy harvesting using a TENG. An implantable triboelectric nanogenerator (iTENG) in a living animal has been developed to harvest energy from its periodic breathing. We also developing an encapsulation method for protecting iTENG from the contamination or liquid infiltration of the surrounding environment. Another important consideration is the versatility of the energy harvesters, which can facilitate the integration between iTENG and the various implantable medical electronics and promote the development of self-powered implantable medical devices and wearable/portable electronics. We also designed viable inner connections and universal outlet connectors for the system. The power management elements and NG were integrated on a flexible substrate; therefore, the entire system could be a “Plug and Play” mobile power source. The system was also packaged by PDMS as a waterproof implantable full energy unit for implantable medical electronic devices.

The energy generated from breathing and body moving was used to power a prototype pacemaker and a low-level laser cure (SPLC) system, respectively. It was found that the self-powered system could regulate the heart rate of a rat and significantly accelerated the mouse embryonic osteoblasts' proliferation and differentiation. This is a significant progress for fabricating self-powered implanted medical electronic devices using TENG as a power source.