As we all know, glucose is a sugar absorbed by the human body from food. It is the source of energy for every cell in our body. But through the unremitting efforts of scientists, it may eventually provide power for medical implants. Recently, engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Technical University of Munich have designed a new type of glucose power battery, which can directly convert glucose into electrical energy** The research results have been published in the journal advanced materials recently.
It is reported that the device is smaller than other proposed glucose fuel cells, only 400 nm thick, about 1 / 100 of the diameter of human hair. Moreover, it can generate about 43 micro watts of power per square centimeter, which is the highest power density of glucose fuel cell under current environmental conditions.
In addition, the new device is also very flexible and can withstand temperatures up to 600 degrees Celsius. If this high heat resistance is integrated into the medical implant, it will allow the power battery to remain stable during the high-temperature sterilization process suitable for all implant devices.
The core of the new device is made of ceramics, which can maintain its electrochemical properties even at high temperature and micro size. The researchers envision that the new design can be made into an ultra-thin film or coating, wrapped around the implant, and use the body's sufficient glucose supply to power electronic devices.
"Glucose is everywhere in the body, and our idea is to collect this ready-made energy and use it to power implantable devices," Philipp Simons said.
He developed the design in the Department of materials science and Engineering (DMSE) at MIT as part of his doctoral thesis. "In our work, we demonstrated the electrochemistry of a new glucose fuel cell."
"The battery generally occupies 90% of the volume of the implant. Now you can make a device with a thin film, and you will have a power supply that does not need to occupy space." Jennifer L.M. Rupp, Simons' thesis supervisor, visiting professor of DMSE and associate professor of solid electrolyte chemistry at Munich University of technology, Germany.