What will they think of next?! It may sound like something out of a science fiction movie, but researchers at MIT have just developed an innovative, safe-to-swallow battery that is powered by your stomach acid. This is a fantastic breakthrough for the medical world as this type of technology could be used in powering ingestible electronic devices that deliver drugs into the body and in certain medical procedures such as colonoscopies.
While other safe to swallow batteries are being developed currently, they’re still causing issues. However, MIT’s development may just change all of that and bring a cheaper and safer alternative to replace those currently on offer. The battery was developed by a team led by senior authors, Giovanni Traverso and Robert Langer. Traverso said, “We need to cone up with ways to power these intangible systems for a long time. We see the GI tract as providing a really unique opportunity to house new systems for drug delivery and sensing, and fundamental to these systems is how they are powered.”
The team based their concept on the same as a normal battery, but rather than be powered by battery acid it would be powered by stomach acid. The way in which the battery was built was based on the same concept as putting a piece of zinc and copper into a lemon and observing as they citric acid transforms into an electrolyte with enough power to light an LED. Moving forward the team is hoping this will open up new avenues in the world of medical devices. Senior author, Anantha Chandrakasan, said, “This work allows us to envision new medical devices where the body itself contributes to energy generation enabling a fully self-sustaining system.”
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