They might last indefinitely
MIT
Your own body could be a power source for future gadgets.
MIT scientists have developed aglucose-powered fuel cellthat could fuel miniature implants and sensors.
He added that implantable devices need to be as small as possible to minimize their impact on patients.
MIT
If used in a medical implant, the fuel cell would have to go through a high-temperature sterilization process.
The idea for the new fuel cell came in 2016 whenJennifer L.M.
“Then I realized it would be good to have a glucose-powered solid-state rig.
olegbreslavtsev / Getty Images
And Philipp and I met over coffee and wrote out on a napkin the first drawings.”
Glucose fuel cells were first introduced in the 1960s, but the early models were based on soft polymers.
These early fuel sources were replaced by lithium-iodide batteries.
This is actually a huge source of complications."
The researchers claim this is the highest power density of any glucose fuel cell design.
Glucose fuel cells can become useful to power implantable devices using a fuel readily available in the body.
The concept and demonstration so far are promising indeed."
Simons said that the new fuel cells could enable entirely new classes of devices in the future.
“What if we could now address individual cells with implantable devices?”
