Engineered smart piezoelectric materials facilitate bone defect regeneration

Bioelectricity is an essential element of biological entities, present in all cell types and regulating their behavior and function. Bone itself can be considered a natural piezoelectric composite material, with piezoelectric signals generated under mechanical stress serving as essential modulators for bone growth and remodeling. Given this background, researchers have recently focused on developing functional bone repair materials with biomimetic piezoelectric characteristics, achieving notable success in bone defect restoration. This paper elucidates the generation processes of the piezoelectric effect, and provides a comprehensive analysis of the potential regulatory mechanisms of piezoelectric signals on bone regeneration. Thereafter, this review classifies piezoelectric materials based on their composition, systematically detailing the advancements of bone repair materials derived from inorganic piezoelectric materials, natural organic polymers, and synthetic organic polymers. By integrating the latest research findings with future development directions, this review intends to offer a solid theoretical framework for the development of piezoelectric materials for bone defect repair.