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Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Biosensors and Bioelectronics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/bios

Generation of electrical power under human skin by subdermal solar cell

arrays for implantable bioelectronic devices
Kwangsun Songa,b, Jung Hyun Hanc,d, Hyung Chae Yange, Kwang Il Namf, Jongho Leea,b,

a
School of Mechanical Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), 123 Cheomdan-gwagiro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 61005, Republic of
Korea
b
Research Institute for Solar and Sustainable Energies, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), 123 Cheomdan-gwagiro, Buk-gu, Gwangju
61005, Republic of Korea
c
School of Life Sciences, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), 123 Cheomdan-gwagiro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea
d
Haenam Beautis Skin and Laser Clinic, 456-1 Haeri Haenam-gun, Jeollanamdo, 536-809, Republic of Korea
e
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Chonnam National University Medical School and Chonnam National University Hospital,
Gwangju, Republic of Korea
f
Department of Anatomy, Chonnam National University Medical School, 160 Baekseo-ro, Dong-gu, Gwangju 61469, Republic of Korea

A R T I C L E I N F O

A BS T RAC T

Keywords:
Solar cell
Implantable
Medical electronic implants
Energy
Human skin
Bioelectronic devices

Medical electronic implants can signicantly improve people's health and quality of life. These implants are
typically powered by batteries, which usually have a nite lifetime and therefore must be replaced periodically
using surgical procedures. Recently, subdermal solar cells that can generate electricity by absorbing light
transmitted through skin have been proposed as a sustainable electricity source to power medical electronic
implants in bodies. However, the results to date have been obtained with animal models. To apply the
technology to human beings, electrical performance should be characterized using human skin covering the
subdermal solar cells. In this paper, we present electrical performance results (up to 9.05 mW/cm2) of the
implantable solar cell array under 59 human skin samples isolated from 10 cadavers. The results indicate that
the power densities depend on the thickness and tone of the human skin, e.g., higher power was generated
under thinner and brighter skin. The generated power density is high enough to operate currently available
medical electronic implants such as pacemakers that require tens of microwatt.

1. Introduction
As the average human lifespan continues to gradually increase,
diverse medical electronic implants are becoming more important, to
functionally assist internal organs, and to help maintain quality of life
by treating chronic diseases. Cardiovascular, neurological and gastroenteric disorders are now being treated by implants, using devices such
as cardiac pacemakers (Kurtz et al., 2010), deep brain stimulators
(Mayberg et al., 2005), gastric stimulators (Cigaina, 2004) and
diaphragmatic stimulators (Sardarzadeh, 2012). However, since the
electrical capacity of the batteries which provide power to these
medical electronic implants is nite, the batteries are usually large,
occupying about half of the volume of the implants (Romero et al.,
2009). In addition, the entire implant, including the battery, needs to
be periodically replaced every 28 years through surgical intervention
(Reese et al., 2011; Wood and Ellenbogen, 2002), which creates
psychological, physical and nancial burdens to patients (Kurtz et al.,

2010). At the same time, the nite electrical capacity that can be
implanted in human bodies limits not only the practical use of
mechanically sophisticated exible and stretchable electronics (Kim
et al., 2010; Ko et al., 2012; Labroo and Cui, 2013; Manunza and
Bonglio, 2007; Reeder et al., 2014) for biomedical applications but is
also insucient for more advanced functionalities, such as real-time
communication. Such devices require sustainable high electric power,
for example, in advanced therapeutic and diagnostic medical implants
including real-time glucose or blood pressure monitors (Fassbender
et al., 2008; Yu et al., 2006), bio-signal sensors (Xu et al., 2015), drug
delivery systems (Minev et al., 2015), articial hearts (Copeland et al.,
2004) and many others (Chow et al., 2004; Kuzum et al., 2014; Tahir
et al., 2005; Wang, 2006). Recently, various energy harvesting strategies have been designed to make use of energy sources in the human
body, including electrochemical reactions (Agnes et al., 2014; Katz and
MacVittie, 2013; Liu et al., 2010), mechanical motion (Bai et al., 2013;
Zhao et al., 2014), wireless energy transmission (Kim et al., 2012) and

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jong@gist.ac.kr (J. Lee).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2016.10.095
Received 4 August 2016; Received in revised form 10 October 2016; Accepted 31 October 2016
Available online xxxx
0956-5663/ 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Song, K., Biosensors and Bioelectronics (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2016.10.095

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was measured under constant pressure on a motorized translational

microstage equipped with a force sensor (transducer techniques) and
top vacuum holder. To accomplish this, rst, we adjusted the parallel
alignment of the microstage and the top vacuum holder by using a twoaxis tilting stage. The force sensor and a square plate (size:
6 mm6 mm) were installed on the motorized microstage and the
top vacuum holder, respectively. After mounting a skin sample on the
at sensing plate of the force sensor, we slowly moved the microstage
(resolution of z-axis: ~0.037 m) vertically while monitoring the
pressure in real time. We measured the thickness of the human skin
sample when the applied pressure to the skin was 81.6 mN/cm2.

others (Carmo et al., 2010; Torres and Rincn-Mora, 2009). Some of

these methods require further development to improve durability,
biocompatibility or electric power output.
Another alternative approach involves producing electricity from
light transmitted through the skin by photoelectric eect (Amar et al.,
2015; Goto et al., 2001; Hannan et al., 2014; Murakawa et al., 1999).
Rigid solar cells, implanted into pig models, were found capable of
supplying enough power to operate custom-built implants (Haeberlin
et al., 2015, 2014). Subdermal exible solar microcell arrays designed
to be mechanically more compatible with skin also generated electricity
to power electronic implants in mouse models (Song et al., 2016).
Although these studies demonstrated the feasibility of the concept in
animal models, the actual electrical characteristics under human skin
must be considered in order to further develop the technology for
human beings, since the performance of the device can depend on
various features of the skin covering the solar cells. Here, we present
the electrical performance of exible implantable photovoltaic (IPV)
devices under isolated human skin samples, whose results improve the
chances for more realistic use of the implantable power source for
human beings. Experiments conducted with skin samples from 6
locations of 10 human cadavers provide quantitative data for the
factors (such as skin thickness and tone) that aect the amount of
power generation under skin. Results indicate that the IPV devices
under the human skin generate around 0.519.05 mW/cm2 depending
on the thickness and tone of the skin. These results should be very
important consideration in designing the sustainable power source for
functional medical electronic implants.

2.4. Measuring optical properties of human skin

We measured the optical properties of the isolated human skin
samples with a ber-optic spectrometer (Avantes) integrated with
double integrating spheres. The double integrating spheres collect
scattering light transmitted through translucent skin. We measured
the amount of light transmitted (Ms) through human skin placed
between the double integrating spheres, for wavelengths of 400
900 nm. After removing the skin from between the spheres, we
repeated the measurements with the light source on (Mw) and o
(Md). The transmittance of the human (Ts) skin was calculated using
the following equation: Ts=(MsMd)/(MwMd). We averaged 20 sets of
measurements for each skin sample.
3. Results and discussion

2. Material and methods

3.1. Concept of the subcutaneously implantable solar cell for power

generation in human body

2.1. Fabrication of exible IPV device

Fig. 1 illustrates the concepts involved in the subcutaneous
implantation of solar microcells for electric power generation in human
bodies. Since human skin (Fig. 1a) protects our bodies from bacteria,
viruses and many other unwanted substances, delivering electrical
power to medical electronic implants through electrical wires penetrating the skin may put the body at risk of infection. Generating the
necessary electrical power under the skin can avoid that risk. Fig. 1b
shows a histological microscope image of shoulder skin, separated from
a human cadaver (race: Asian, ages: 82, male) that was preserved by an
embalming solution composed of ethanol, glycerin, formalin, phenol
and distilled water, and stained with Accustain trichrome stain
(Masson) kit (Sigma-Aldrich). The shoulder skin consists of three
primary layers: the epidermis (~32 m), dermis (~1.8 mm) and subcutaneous fat. Although human skin is not optically transparent, a
fraction of light (7001000 nm) penetrates through human skin up to
about 4 mm (Barolet, 2008). Fig. 1c shows a demonstration of the light
transmitted through an isolated hand dorsum skin (thickness:
~0.94 mm) from an embalmed human cadaver (race: Asian, ages: 61,
male). When the light source (wavelength: 3602500 nm, AvalightHAL, Avantes) is shined on a spot of the isolated hand dorsum skin, a
certain amount of light is transmitted through the skin as can be seen
on the white paper (Fig. 1c). By absorbing the transmitted light an
implantable photovoltaic (IPV) device can generate electrical power
under the skin, and can supply electricity to an implanted medical
electronic device, as illustrated in Fig. 1d.

We prepared dual junction solar microcells (GaInP/GaAs), epitaxially grown on GaAs wafers as reported previously (Song et al., 2016). In
short, solar microcells (size: 760 m760 m, thickness: 5.7 m) were
fabricated on wafers by the wet etching process (H2O2 30%, H3PO4
85%, HCl 35%, OCI), followed by deposition of electrodes (Ti: 20 nm/
Au: 60 nm). The microcells on the wafers were separated and transferred to a exible polyimide lm (thickness: 12.5 m) where SU-8
photoresist (thickness: ~2 m, Microchemicals) was spin-coated to
serve as an adhesion layer. The exible solar microcells array, expected
to have long lifetime (~30 years) (Nez et al., 2013), was encapsulated
with multiple transparent layers such as SU-8 (thickness: ~2 m) and
NOA61 (thickness: ~23 m, Norland Products), also known to be
biocompatible (Nemani et al., 2013; Norland product, 2014), to
prevent interaction between the solar materials and biological substances, after interconnecting the solar microcells in series (2) and
parallel (7) with sputtered metal layers (Ti: 50 nm/Au: 300 nm). The
encapsulation layers isolate the IPV devices from substances in tissues
but transmit light to the devices, thus enabling power generation by
photoelectric eect without chemical interactions between the IPV
devices and tissue substances.
2.2. Preparation of human cadavers
A total of 10 human cadavers (race: Asian, age: 4395, male: 5,
female: 5) were selected for the analysis of solar cell arrays under
human skin (Fig. S1). The cadavers were all of Korean descent and had
been bequeathed to Chonnam National University Medical School
under the acquisition terms described in the Human Tissue Act
1964. The cadavers had been preserved by anatomical embalming
using formalin.

3.2. Characteristic of electrical parameters of exible IPV device

under the human skin
The current-voltage characteristics of the solar microcells under the
human skin are evaluated using a exible IPV device (Fig. 2a) prepared
by transfer-printing and interconnecting thin solar microcells (14 cells,
2 in series and 7 in parallel, thickness: ~5.7 m) on a exible polyimide
(PI) lm (12.5 m), followed by encapsulating the devices as reported
elsewhere (Song et al., 2016). See more details in Material and

2.3. Measuring thickness of human skin

The thickness of isolated human skin samples from the cadavers
2

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Fig. 1. Light transmission through human skin. (a) An image of a human arm, showing the approximate location selected for the shoulder skin sample. (b) A histological microscope
image of the stained shoulder skin tissue (epidermis: ~32 m, dermis: ~1.8 mm) isolated from a xed human cadaver. (c) Demonstration of light (wavelength: 3602500 nm)
transmission through the isolated hand dorsum skin (thickness: ~0.94 mm) of a xed cadaver. (d) A schematic illustration of electrical power generation and supply using an
implantable photovoltaic (IPV) device, operated by absorbing light transmitted through human skin.

Fig. 2. Electrical properties of the exible IPV device under the human skin. (a) An optical image of the thin exible IPV device bent on a forearm with a radius of ~3 mm. (b) An image
of the xed human hand dorsum skin (thickness: ~0.68 mm) which covers the exible IPV device (red dotted). The electrical properties are measured by probing the exposed square
metal pads connected to the IPV device. (c) Current-voltage (I-V) curves of the IPV device when not covered (black line) and when covered (blue line) with the human hand dorsum skin
under AM 1.5G illumination. (d) Electrical characteristics of the IPV device when uncovered, and when covered, i.e., under the human skin. The eciency () and short circuit current
density (Jsc) of the IPV device decrease from 21.5% to 4.3% and from 5.63 mA/cm2 to 1.17 mA/cm2, respectively. The open circuit voltage (Voc: 4.6 V4.5 V) and ll factor (FF: 0.83
0.84) do not show any signicant change under the human skin. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

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(red square, R: 177 4.79 [2.7], G: 165 5.42 [3.28], B: 124 6.51
[5.26]) compared to a hand dorsum (pink triangle, R: 139 6.29
[4.51], G: 120 7.4 [6.19], B: 85 7.27 [8.54]) and chest skin (green
circle, R: 129 5.76 [4.47], G: 99 6.89 [6.97], B: 50 7.35 [14.79]) as
seen in Fig. 3e. This indicates that the IPV device generates higher
electrical power under a bright skin. The skin tone is dominantly
determined by distribution of melanin pigment that absorbs ultraviolet
and visible light (Igarashi et al., 2007) in the epidermis. Dark skin has
higher distribution of melanin pigment, lowering light delivered to the
IPV device. Fig. 3f shows the average power densities generated under
the skin samples taken from the six locations. The IPV device under the
relatively thin skin from the hand dorsum (2.21 mW/cm2) and the
upper inner arm (2.34 mW/cm2) generates higher average power,
while the lowest power is generated under the thicker forehead skin
(0.96 mW/cm2).

methods. The IPV device is covered with human hand dorsum skin
isolated from a cadaver (race: Asian, age: 82, male) xed for preservation, and probed using the exposed metal pads that are connected with
the solar microcells under the skin, as shown in Fig. 2b. Under
standard AM1.5G illumination (100 mW/cm2, LCS-100, Oriel
Instruments), the current-voltage characteristics (Fig. 2c) change from
the black line (uncovered means the IPV device is not covered by the
skin) to the blue line (under human skin, i.e., the IPV device is covered
by the skin) because the intensity of the transmitted light is reduced by
the skin. The conversion eciency (, red) and short-circuit current
density (Jsc, green) decrease from 21.5% to 4.3% and from 5.63 mA/
cm2 to 1.17 mA/cm2, respectively, as seen in Fig. 2d. The open-circuit
voltage (Voc, blue) and ll factor (FF, magenta) remain similarly under
the human skin (Voc: 4.6 V4.5 V, FF: 0.830.84) because Voc and FF
are determined by the properties of the solar materials (Khanna et al.,
2013; Vandewal et al., 2008).

3.4. Optical properties of human skin and electrical power of IPV

device under non-xed human skin

3.3. Electrical power of IPV device under human skin from xed
cadavers

The transmittance of the human skin was found to be closely

related to the power generated by the IPV device under the skin. Fig. 4a
shows the apparatus used to measure the transmittance of the isolated
human skin samples. When light guided through an optical ber from
the light source illuminates the isolated human skin, the transmitted
light is collected by the lower integrating sphere and quantied with a
ber-optic Spectrometer (Avaspec-ULS2048L, Avantes). More details
are in the Material and methods. As expected, the average transmittance (N=9) of the human skin from the hand dorsum (green line) and
the upper inner arm (red line) are higher than those of the other skin
samples, as shown in Fig. 4b. The transmittance of the thicker skin
from the shoulder and forehead are relatively lower as indicated by the
magenta and light blue lines, respectively.
Measurements using fresh (non-xed) skin can provide more
practical results since fresh, e.g., non-xed, human skin is closer to
live skin than xed samples, which are denatured and become opaque
through the embalming process (Jagdeo et al., 2012; Tabaac et al.,
2013). Fig. 4c shows the optical images for fresh (non-xed) forehead
skin (front and back) acquired from a cadaver (race: Asian, age: 95,
female) within 26 h after death that did not go through an embalming
process. The fresh skin is apparently brighter. Although the thickness
of the fresh skin (green square) is comparable to that of the xed
human skin (red circle, hand dorsum (mean standard deviation
[relative standard deviation (%)]: 0.845 0.196 [23.25] mm), upper
inner arm (0.951 0.335 [35.23] mm), antecubitis (0.926 0.151
[16.3] mm), shoulder (1.475 0.414 [28.07] mm) and forehead
(1.408 0.393 [27.91] mm)) as seen in Fig. 4d, the transmittance of
the fresh human skin is higher than the skin from xed cadavers. The
fresh upper inner arm skin transmits about 2040% (wavelength: 500
600 nm) and 50% (wavelength: 600900 nm) of the incident light, as
shown in Fig. 4e. The slight drop in transmittance at wavelengths of
~540 nm and ~580 nm is caused by the absorption of light by
hemoglobin (Giangreco et al., 2013; Saka et al., 2010). The substances
in capillaries of live human skin may aect the electrical properties of
the IPV devices, for example, by absorbing the incident light through
skin (Igarashi et al., 2007). Fig. 4f shows the power density of the IPV
device under fresh and xed human skin. Although there is no
signicant dierence in thickness between the fresh and xed skin
samples, the power densities under the fresh skin are much higher
(hand dorsum: 8.47 mW/cm2, upper inner arm: 9.05 mW/cm2) because the transmittance of the fresh skin is higher. The electrical power
generated by the IPV device under human skin is comparable with
those of the previous reports by using exible piezoelectric devices
(0.120.18 W/cm2) (Dagdeviren et al., 2014) or using glucose biofuel
cells (0.21.3 mW/cm2) (Zebda et al., 2013, 2011), and is enough to
operate currently available medical electronic implants such as pacemakers [1040 W (Haeberlin et al., 2015)] or implantable cardiac

The amount of electrical power generated under the human skin

depends on the thickness and tone of the skin. To evaluate the electrical
properties of the IPV device under dierent types of human skin, we
isolated skin samples from 6 dierent parts of the upper body, namely,
the hand dorsum, upper inner arm, antecubitis, chest, shoulder and
forehead of 9 human cadavers (total: 54 skin samples, race: Asian, age:
4382, male: 5, female: 4) that had been preserved with an embalming
solution, as shown in Fig. 3a. These samples were selected after
considering that most medical electronic implants such as pacemakers,
implantable cardioverter debrillators, vagus nerve stimulators and
deep brain stimulators, are inserted in the upper body. Fixed human
skin is apparently more opaque, as shown with the images taken from
one cadaver (race: Asian, age: 82, male) in Fig. 3a, because the
embalming process denatures the skin (Tabaac et al., 2013). More
details for each cadaver are presented in Fig. S1.
Since the isolated skin samples are very soft, we measured the
thickness of the skin while pressing the skin gently with a at square
plate (size: 6 mm6 mm) at a pressure (81.6 mN/cm2) provided by a
motorized translational microstage (resolution: 0.037 m) and monitored by a force sensor (maximum error: 49 N, transducer techniques) as shown in Fig. 3b. Fig. 3c shows the measured thickness (n=9)
of the isolated skin from the hand dorsum (mean standard deviation:
0.845 0.196 mm), from the upper inner arm (0.951 0.335 mm),
antecubitis (0.926 0.151 mm), chest (1.179 0.320 mm), shoulder
(1.475 0.414 mm) and forehead (1.408 0.393 mm).
The electrical power generated by the IPV device covered with the
dierent human skin samples (total 54 skin samples: 6 skin samples9
cadavers) under standard test conditions (AM1.5G, 100 mW/cm2) was
found to be inversely proportional to the skin thickness, as illustrated
by the tting line (black, p=1694/t) in Fig. 3d. The power densities
depend on the amount of light delivered to the IPV device through
human skin. Thicker skin consisting of keratinocytes, broblasts,
collagen bers and many others has more chances to absorb or scatter
incident light, thus, reducing light delivered to the IPV device, resulting
in lower power density. In addition, under skin samples that have
similar thickness (marked with circles), the power density also depends
on the skin tone, as shown with the optical images in Fig. 3d. Even with
similar skin thickness (~1036 m, marked with the circles), the IPV
device generates dierent amounts of electrical power under the skin
from an upper inner arm (red square, 3.58 mW/cm2), hand dorsum
(pink triangle, 1.58 mW/cm2) and chest (green circle, 0.95 mW/cm2),
as the skin tones appear to be dierent. The skin tones were quantied
at 30 points using images taken by a camera (5D, Canon) in the same
setting and ambient light, and it was determined that the red-greenblue (RGB) intensity (mean standard deviation [relative standard
deviation (%)]) of the skin from the upper inner arm was the highest
4

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Fig. 3. Electrical performance of the IPV device under human skin samples isolated from various parts of the body. (a) Optical images of the human skin isolated from 6 dierent parts
of one xed cadaver (race: Asian, age: 82, male). Skin samples from 9 xed cadavers (race: Asian, ages: 4382, male: 5, female: 4) were used in the analysis. (b) Experimental setup to
measure the thickness of the human skin samples under consistent pressure (81.6 mN/cm2) with the force sensor mounted on a motorized translational stage (resolution: 0.037 m). (c)
Measured skin thickness (n=9) of the 6 dierent parts separated from 9 xed cadavers. (d) Power density of the IPV device under 54 (6 skin samples9 cadavers) human skin samples
with respect to thickness. The power density by the IPV device is inversely proportional to the thickness of the skin because of higher light absorption of thicker skin. Under skin samples
with similar thickness (~1036 m, marked with circles), the power densities of the IPV device are dierent when the skin tones are dierent (optical images). (e) RGB intensity (a.u.) of
the skin samples having similar thickness (~1036 m). The intensity is maximum with white (R, G, B: 255) and minimum with black (R, G, B: 0). (f) Measurement results of power
densities (mean standard deviation, n=9) of the IPV device under the skin samples from 6 dierent parts of 9 xed cadavers. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure,
the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

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Fig. 4. Optical properties of human skin, and conversion eciencies of the IPV device under fresh (non-xed) skin. (a) Experimental setup to measure the transmittance of the human
skin. The light source illuminates the skin (inset image) and the transmitted light is collected through the optical cables. (b) Measurements results (n=9, mean) of the transmittance
through xed skin samples. (c) An optical image of the front (left) and back (right) of a fresh skin sample isolated from the forehead of a cadaver (female, Asian, age: 95) without
embalming, within 26 h after death. The fresh skin is apparently more transparent and brighter, compare to the xed skin for preservation. (d) The thicknesses of the fresh (green) and
xed skin samples (red) used for transmittance measurements. (e) The transmittance of the fresh skin is relatively higher compared to the ones from the xed cadavers. (f) Power
densities of the IPV device under the fresh and xed human skin. Under the fresh skin the IPV device (5.629.05 mW/cm2) generates higher electric power than under the xed skin
(0.962.34 mW/cm2: hand dorsum (mean standard deviation [relative standard deviation (%)]:2.21 1.13 [51.01] mW/cm2), upper inner arm (2.34 0.73 [31.06] mW/cm2),
antecubitis (1.89 0.53 [27.95] mW/cm2), shoulder (1.13 0.4 [35.58] mW/cm2) and forehead (0.96 0.59 [61.52] mW/cm2)). (g) Demonstration of power generation with the LEDintegrated IPV device under the human hand dorsum skin. The IPV device under the skin generates electricity and turns on the LED (Inset). (For interpretation of the references to color
in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

debrillators [10 W (Kim et al., 2016)]. Fig. 4g shows a demonstration using the IPV device under the human dorsum skin, which turns
on a LED integrated with the IPV device.

The electrical power density generated under isolated human skin

samples by the exible solar microcells is in the range of sub-to several
milliwatts per square centimeter, although the power density depends
on skin thickness and tone. Further studies with greater numbers of
fresh human skin samples can help statistically estimate the electrical
performance of implanted solar microcell arrays with respect to race,
age, gender and other factors. The eort to provide sustainable
electrical power to devices implanted in the human body should not
only reduce the necessity of periodic surgical intervention, but also

4. Conclusions
The results reported here provide important information for
practically designing and realizing subdermally implantable solar
microcell arrays to sustainably power medical electronic implants.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of
Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (No.
2016R1A2B4012854) and the GIST-Caltech Research Collaboration
Project through a grant provided by GIST.
Appendix A. Supplementary material
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found in the
online version at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2016.10.095.
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