Bioresorbable (transient) electronics

Bioresorbable electronics are devices built entirely from materials that dissolve, resorb, or metabolise in the body over a programmed lifetime, so that no explant surgery is required. A representative material set uses silicon nanomembranes as semiconductor, magnesium, molybdenum, zinc or tungsten as conductors, silicon dioxide or magnesium oxide as dielectrics, and silk fibroin, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) or similar polymers as substrate and encapsulation. Each degrades by hydrolysis or resorption into products the body can clear at low concentration.

The value proposition is temporary function without a permanent foreign body: transient sensors and stimulators for post-operative monitoring, temporary cardiac pacing, and peripheral-nerve stimulation that promotes regeneration and then vanishes have been demonstrated in animals and, in a few acute cases, in humans. Open questions concern reliable multi-week to multi-month lifetimes, the systemic load of dissolution products, and matching functional lifetime to therapeutic need.