Potential of piezoelectric silk and organic bioelectronics in bone tissue engineering

Natural silk-based materials exhibit intrinsic piezoelectricity making them suitable for advanced applications including organic bioelectronics and energy-harvesting systems. Silk fibroin is particularly attractive due to its biocompatibility. Organic and polymer-based piezoelectric devices can be effectively integrated with biological environments to provide sensing, neural interfaces, and bone tissue regeneration. This review paper presents key aspects of piezoelectric silk, processing, functionalization routes and genetic modifications focusing on its piezoelectric performance and the design of scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Potential of piezoelectric silk in bone tissue reconstruction and repair is analyzed, including various silk forms such as films, hydrogels, sponges, fibers, and composites. Wearable organic electronics is reviewed with case studies in biosensors, actuators, piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerators, including related challenges in integrating electronics with organic materials. Very recent advanced research directions about the links between the bone and brain systems focusing on integrative phytotherapy for neurodegenerative disorders are briefly analyzed. Challenges including low piezoelectric coefficients, material variability, limited long-term mechanical stability, fabrication scalability issues, and a lack of standardized characterization methods are analyzed, indicating the need for structural engineering, hybrid nanocomposites, advanced alignment strategies, and integrated computational-experimental approaches to achieve reliable, sustainable bioelectronic systems with silk-based materials.