Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered a method that could lead to medical devices that are powered by a patient's heartbeat.
Energy Harvesting Journal reported last year that Zhong Lin Wang, leader of the research team, had produced electricity from a hamster running on its wheel (Electricity porduced through muscle movement). Now the team have deposited zinc oxide nanowires on a flexible polymer substrate, after which the device was put into a polymer casing to protect it from body fluids interacting with it. Then the device, measuring 2 millimetres by 5 millimetres, was attached to the diaphragm of a laboratory rat.
The stretching of the rat's diaphragm during breathing stretched the nanowires, and the device generated around four picoamperes of current at two millivolts. The device was then attached to a rat's heart where it generated 30 picoamperes at three millivolts.
Although the current produced is small, the research team feel the technology has the potential to power nano-sized devices such as early warning systems of hypoglycaemia, blood pressure monitors and glucose sensors for example. Their goal is to improve the power output in order to power these medical devices.
Top image source: examiner.com
For more read : Energy Harvesting and Storage for Electronic Devices 2009-2019
