New energy harvesting technology for prolonging batteries life of implantable electronic devices.

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The European Union (EU) is a world leader in implantable electronic devices (IEDs), such as cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators. Every year, more than 6 million new cases and more than 1.8 million deaths related to cardiovascular diseases in the EU, generating to the EU economy a cost of more than €210 billion a year. NEW-TECH is devoted to creating a new energy harvest (EH) device based on porous piezoelectric polymeric Polyvinylidene fluoride film P(VDF-TrFE) filled with a layer of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to use as a battery for IEDs. The current project will overcome the stagnation in the technology of batteries for IEDs and create a new EH device with high longevity, sustainability, and cheaper. The main research objectives of NEW-TECH are firstly developing an efficient finite element model capable of predicting the output power of the new multilayer EH device. Afterward, a new EH device composed of a multilayer structure of porous piezoelectric polymeric film P(VDF-TrFE) filled with a layer of PDMS organized in a mixed connection (in parallel or in series) will be fabricated. The validation of the numerical results will be done through an experimental setup consisting of a hexapod robot capable of mimicking the physiological human heart motions and providing mechanical deformation to the developed EH device. Finally, fatigue and chemical stability verification of the EH device will be done through different mechanical and chemical tests. NEW-TECH will bring together a Fellow who is an expert in computational mechanics and polymer physics and a host institution carrying leading academic know-how in energy harvesting technology to develop the next generation of EH devices for prolonging the battery life of IEDs. The placement at SSSA and BCM will give the fellow real-world expertise in robotics and manufacturing of EH devices, respectively. NEW-TECH will enable cheaper and more longevity EH devices for consumers and render Europe a pole of IEDs.