Drill bits for oil and gas applications

A method of monitoring mechanical wear of a drill bit during a drilling operation, the method comprising:

• deploying the drill bit to a rock formation, the drill bit comprising a plurality of cutting devices and a microelectronics unit;
• generating an electric field across a cutting layer of each cutting device;
• generating a signal corresponding to a a voltage associated with the electric field of each cutting device such that a plurality of signals are generated;
• transmitting the plurality of signals to the microelectronics unit;
• and
• determining, at the microelectronics unit, a real-time percentage of mechanical wear of the drill bit during drilling based on a change in the voltage associated with the electric field across the cutting layer of each cutting device of the plurality of cutting devices using the plurality of signals;
• determining, at the microelectronics unit, a threshold percentage of mechanical wear of the drill bit that corresponds to an inflection point of a performance efficiency of the drill bit;
• and
• automatically controlling, at the microelectronics unit, one or more operational parameters of the drill bit during drilling to maintain the real-time percentage of mechanical wear of the drill bit below the threshold percentage of mechanical wear of the drill bit.