Piezoelectric and dielectric properties of collagen films

In this paper we studied the piezoelectric and dielectric properties of col lagen films, considering the development of new biomaterials which have pot ential applications in coating of cardiovascular prostheses, support of cel lular growth and in systems for controlled drug delivery. The resonance tec hnique was used to measure the piezoelectric strain tensor element d(14), t he elastic constant s(55), and the dielectric permittivity epsilon(11), for collagen films. The resonance measurement of the piezoelectric strain cons tant d(14) Of collagen gives 0.096 pC/N which is in good agreement with val ues reported in the literature measured using other experimental techniques . We believe that the use of the resonance technique is very efficient in t he study of piezoelectricity in films of biological materials.