Electrically Active Materials for Medical Devices

authors	Kate Ryan, Sabine M. Neumayer, Denise Denning, Jill Guyonnet, Ensieh Hosseini, Arwa Bazaid, Andrei L. Kholkin, and Brian J. Rodriguez
editors	Syed A M Tofail, Joanna Bauer
chapter title	Chapter 29: Piezoresponse Force Microscopy for Bioelectromechanics
nationality	International
abstract	Electromechanical coupling, including piezoelectricity, ferroelectricity, and flexoelectricity, is present in a wide range of organic materials. Such phenomena have been postulated to have a functional role in biological systems, where e.g. conformational changes in proteins can be electrically activated. Investigating the electromechanical properties of biological materials at the micro to nanoscale is therefore crucial for understanding the possible biofunctionality of piezoelectricity and for exploiting such properties in, e.g. sensing, actuating or energy harvesting applications. This chapter provides an overview of the use of piezoresponse force microscopy in the investigation of biomaterials to further our understanding of bioelectromechanics.
publisher	Imperial College Press
isbn	978-1-783-26986-0
year published	2016
beginning page	435
ending page	450
book digital object identifier (doi)	10.1142/9781783269877_0029
link	http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/9781783269877_0029