International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)

Volume 4 Issue 5, July-August 2020 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470

Bioelectronics - The Revolutionary Concept

Anshika Gupta
Department of Mechatronics Engineering,
Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering, NMIMS, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

ABSTRACT How to cite this paper: Anshika Gupta

Electronics in medical sciences has been an emerging field of study and has "Bioelectronics - The Revolutionary
evolved a lot. Bio electronics is a somewhat new branch that can provide more Concept" Published
effective and convenient solutions by revolutionizing the scope of medicine in International
forever. It involves electronic devices that can be consumed furthermore after Journal of Trend in
going inside the body, capable of assisting in various procedures like a Scientific Research
diagnosis, surgical assistance, etc. This paper focusses on delivering the and Development
fundamental concept of edible electronics, how is it helpful, its extent of (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-
application, and its challenges. 6470, Volume-4 | IJTSRD33022
Issue-5, August 2020,
KEYWORDS: Edible Electronics, Inject able electronics, Bioabsorbable Electronics, pp.979-981, URL:
Soft electronics www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd33022.pdf

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INTRODUCTION
Today we are surrounded by electronics everywhere, and it The description of the three are given below.
exists in many forms such as a handy device like mobile, a
wearable like a watch, even an instilled device, and many I. Soft Electronics
more. They have been advancing continuously in the field of It mainly focusses on making electronics stretchy and more
health for diagnosis majorly but can also be made flexible (biocompatible) like the human body. A lot of
appropriate for other internal purposes. experiments with different materials carried out to make the
electronics adequately stretchy to fit in the human body
Bio-electronics are an engineering challenge in itself because parts, replacing the damaged part or providing support to
of the obstacles encountered in making it safe and assuring the existing ones. Finally, a heterogeneous combination of
whether the device would be capable of completing the silicon in kinds with soft elastomers was determined to be
desired task. The foundational elements in this field can be perfect for the application.
microelectronic devices, invented back in the 1950s. Then,
progressions in technology made the system more flexible
and adaptive.

The interaction of electronics with the human is broad, with

a lot of different aspects. It can be classified into 3 types
which lay the foundation to the aspirations used in the
concept of edible electronics which a fairly new concept.

Figure 2: components arrangement in soft electronics

tattoo

Usually, piezoelectric or thermoelectric thin films or ribbons

generate the power for the working requirements. These
Figure 1: Classification of electronics in human body. skin-like soft electronics can be put as tattoos on the skin for
providing a measurement of parameters outside the skin like

@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD33022 | Volume – 4 | Issue – 5 | July-August 2020 Page 979
 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
skin moisture, temperature, etc as well as inner parameters assist in critical functions like improving the hearts
like functioning on veins, arteries, etc. Also, they can functioning (pacemaker), detection brain functioning
simulate and monitor various brain functions, using silicon through neural signals, etc.
nanoribbon transistors along with amplifiers. The
applications of this not limited to the above but many Edible electronics is the other part of bioabsorbable
more.[2] electronics in which the electronics devices or tools are
made with ingestible sensors layered between thin silicon
II. Injectable Electronics capsule or films, usually easily swallow able. The market for
This type, the electronic tools are ultra-flexible, such that smart pills was roughly about $1.56billion valuation and is
they can be injected into the body without any consequences expected to rise to a staggering $8.98billion by 2024.[7]
using a syringe. They are also known as non-invasive and
seamless 3D interpenetration. [3,4]

Figure 3: Injectable electronics on a mouse brain Figure 5: Smart pill having a camera for GI tracking.

This consists of a macrporous mesh, which is about 1000 Usually these pills consist of sensors, cameras,
times more flexible than the ordinary flexible electronics. It microcontrollers, and a wireless transmitter so that the
is fabricated from a blend of semiconductors, metals, and sensor or the camera could give the useful information to the
polymers, usually Silicon Nanowire Field-Effect Transistors. user or medical experts via an app or screen. All the
Then the material is swirled to fit in the metal or glass needle components are put together in a medical seal so that they
for injecting into the desired place. It generally regains 80% can be swallowed. The first major drawback is the power
of its original shape to occupy the available space. This could limitations, that at present can only be improved using
be used to understand the tissue working as well as imaging electronics but cannot be used because of the toxicity and
in the intricate, difficult to access parts.[5] rigidness. So currently biologically derived materials like
organic electrodes consisting of natural melanin pigment are
III. Bioabsorbable Electronics used, derived from fishes or on-board Ni-Cd batteries, which
Bioabsorbable electronics consists of both ingestible (edible) can power the device up to 2 hrs and 72 hrs respectively.
and implantable electronics. In initial times, the fractured The various other challenges are the threat of infection and
bones and other joint replacement were done using typical toxicity. But despite of all these this technology has a huge
mechanical devices that were extremely rigid and did not potential to many medical procedures easier and less
give enough stretching ability for the comfortable painful, along with potentializing the ability to reach the
movement. Later this problem was solved by the use of most complicated places inside the human body.[8]
implantable electronics, that were flexible enough to be
incorporated in the required space as well as had an Conclusion
additional feature of diagnosis also.[6] Combining both biology and electronics can help in a better
understanding of both the field along with helping to know
their limitations and loop holes. Currently the most needed
advancement in this field is making the devices more
biocompatible, flexible and eco-friendly.

References
[1] B. M. K. Prasad, Karan Singh, Shyam S. Pandey, Richard
O'Kennedy, “Communication and Computing Systems”
Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on
Communication and Computing Systems (ICCCS 2018),
December 1-2, 2018, Gurgaon, India.
[2] J. A. Rogers, "Soft electronics for the human body,"
2016 46th European Solid-State Device Research
Conference (ESSDERC), Lausanne, 2016, pp. 21-22, doi:
Figure 4: Implantable fixture in the brain.
10.1109/ESSDERC.2016.7599579.
The use of implantable electronics is not only limited to the [3] Harvard University. "Injectable electronics offer
aforementioned traditional simple uses, but also it may powerful new tool in understanding how retinal cells

@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD33022 | Volume – 4 | Issue – 5 | July-August 2020 Page 980
 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
work." Science Daily. Northeast Bioengineering Conference (NEBEC), Boston,
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180628151 MA, 2014, pp. 1-2, doi: 10.1109/NEBEC.2014.6972727.
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[7] https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4591 smart-pill.asp
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[8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6503
[5] https://www.materialstoday.com/biomaterials/news/ 252/#:~:text=Edible%20electronic%20devices%20ar
injectable-electronics-fit-right-in/ e%20orally,treat%20many%20types%20of%20diseas
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[6] G. Becker, A. Calvis, L. Hazlett, M. Verzi and M. Paliwal,
can%20provide,medical%20devices%20in%20ambula
"Bioabsorbable polymeric fracture fixation devices aim
tory%20patients.
to reduce stress shielding in bone," 2014 40th Annual

@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD33022 | Volume – 4 | Issue – 5 | July-August 2020 Page 981