Sustainable Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Using 3D Printing with Chicken Bone Extract

Animal waste, if not disposed of carefully, is a threat to the environment, as it may cause fouling and microorganism growth and can be a home for many diseases. Hence, proper waste management is required. One such abundantly found biowaste product is chicken bones, which are thrown into nature after the meat is consumed. However, this biowaste (chicken bone extract, CBE) can be utilized to make bioceramics in an efficient way without much labor and cost. Bioceramics made from natural sources such as chicken bones have chemical, physical, and biological similarities to the inorganic content of human bones and hence do not create any toxicity or harmful effects when used inside the human body. Bone, being a piezoelectric material, makes the healing of fractures faster (osteoconduction and osteoinduction) due to the electric field it generates. Hence, a piezoelectric device fabricated from natural CBE could be utilized for generating piezoelectricity to heal bones. The piezoelectric behavior of a CBE bioceramic material is studied for the first time by developing a device made via 3D printing. Piezoelectric studies were performed at various loads and tapping frequencies, and a maximum piezoelectric coefficient (d33) of ∼68.7 pC/N and electromechanical coupling of 0.17 were obtained, which are suitable for piezoelectric energy-harvesting applications. Normally, the lifetime of piezoelectric devices is low, and their disposal and recycling may also create health hazards. However, the current device made out of degradable natural CBE poses no environmental threat after disposal. This novel process opens up new opportunities and directions to rethink alternatives for piezoelectric materials that are used for sustainable energy harvesting