Biological applications of ferroelectric materials

Abstract

The study and applications of ferroelectric materials in the biomedical and biotechnological fields is a novel and very promising scientific area that spans roughly one decade. However, some groups have already provided experimental proof of very interesting biological modulation when living systems are exposed to different ferroelectrics and excitation mechanisms. These materials should offer several advantages in the field of bioelectricity, such as no need of an external electric power source or circuits, scalable size of the electroactive regions, flexible and reconfigurable "virtual electrodes", or fully proved biocompatibility. In this focused review we provide the underlying physics of ferroelectric activity and a recount of the research reports already published, along with some tentative biophysical mechanisms that can explain the observed results. More specifically, we focused on the biological actions of domain ferroelectrics, and ferroelectrics excited by the bulk photovoltaic effect or the pyroelectric effect. It is our goal to provide a comprehensive account of the published material so far, and to set the stage for a vigorous expansion of the field, with envisioned applications that span from cell biology and signaling to cell and tissue regeneration, antitumoral action, or cell bioengineering to name a few.

Genetic Material Manipulation and Modification by Optical Trapping and Nanosurgery-A Perspective

“…Living cells perturbation has been already proved with this microirradiation approach (Blázquez-Castro et al, 2011). Recently, a review on this and many other applications of ferroelectrics in Biology has been published (Blázquez-Castro et al, 2018b). It would be interesting to combine OT with photoresponsive ferroelectrics for Cell Biology and Genetics, particularly when these materials have been shown capable of driving controlled movement of micrometric liquid volumes, relevant when talking about cellular processes (Nasti et al, 2020).…”

Real‐Time Operation of Photovoltaic Optoelectronic Tweezers: New Strategies for Massive Nano‐object Manipulation and Reconfigurable Patterning

“…In turn, the main advantage of PVOT is the high flexibility and spatial control provided by the illumination in order to generate arbitrary particle patterns. The present state of the art for PVOT has been summarized in a very recent review paper, whereas applications in biology and biotechnology have been reviewed by Blázquez‐Castro et al…”

Crystal Structure, Raman Spectroscopy and Dielectric Properties of New Semiorganic Crystals Based on 2-Methylbenzimidazole

“…The search for and study of new organic and semiorganic materials possessing ferroelectric, ferroelastic, antiferroelectric, or piezoelectric properties is at present a subject of intensive research [1][2][3]. The interest in such substances is caused, in particular, by the need to obtain ecological, flexible, and low-cost functional materials for electronics, sensors for different fields, piezoelements, nonlinear optical devices [4,5], membranes for fuel cells for hydrogen energetics [6], biomedical and biotechnological devises, [7] etс.…”