Biodegradable germanium electronics for integrated biosensing of physiological signals

Abstract

Transient electronics that can disappear or degrade via physical disintegration or chemical reaction over a pre-defined operational period provide essential for their applications in implantable bioelectronics due to the complete elimination of the second surgical extraction. However, the dissolution of commonly utilized bioresorbable materials often accompanies hydrogen production, which may cause potential or irreparable harm to the human body. This paper introduces germanium nanomembrane-based bioresorbable electronic sensors, where the chemical dissolution of all utilized materials in biofluidic theoretically have no gaseous products. In particular, the superior electronic transport of germanium enables the demonstrated bioresorbable electronic sensors to successfully distinguish the crosstalk of different physiological signals, such as temperature and strain, suggesting the significant prospect for the construction of dual or multi-parameter biosensors. Systematical studies reveal the gauge factor and temperature coefficient of resistance comparable to otherwise similar devices with gaseous products during their dissolution.