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Animal experiments with biogalvanic cells have demonstrated that an average power of 80 muW can be derived continously for at least 2 years. There is a further scope to stabilize the power at 100 muW for considerable longer periods so that the chances of cardiac pacing with biogalvanic power have become bright. However, large scale efforts are necessary in in establishing the statistical reliability and the secured performance which are expensive and time consuming. Animal experiments with biofuel cells are still in preliminary stages. We derived a continous power of 40 muW (4MUW/cm2) at 575 mV over 150 days so far. This is the longest recorded period with such a high power density. The main problem in deriving higher power over longer period is to properly encapsulate the cell with materials which are hydrophilic and essentially biocompatible.

An environmentally friendly plasma amination process for the activation of polymers prior to electroless metallization using dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) at atmospheric pressure was investigated. One focus of the work was on the correlation between plasma parameters and palladium coverage on the polymer on the one hand and the palladium coverage and adhesion of a galvanic copper metallization on the other hand. Using XPS spectroscopy it was found that a DBD treatment of polyimide (PI) films with mixtures of N2 and H2 leads to considerably higher Pd surface concentrations than on untreated reference samples or foils treated in air‐DBD. The Pd coverages achieved result in peel strengths of a copper metallization of up to 1.4 N · mm−1.

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Presently, platinum, platinum-iridium, and carbon (glossy and pyrographite) are the preferred materials to be used as stimulating electrodes. Electrochemical tests revealed higher thresholds with Pt-Ir, which possibly are a result of excessive connective tissue growth. A porous structure appears to be preferred especially if the electrode materials are smooth and activated glassy carbon. When comparing power consumption, glassy carbon was found to be a superior electrode material.