Battery, soluble without sediment
"Edible" electronics will make the diagnosis and treatment of diseases
more efficient and safer
DailyTechInfo based on DVICE materials: Edible batteries could make medicine smarterWhen you get sick, your doctor usually prescribes a specific treatment procedure for you.
And if you follow all the requirements of this procedure, which in most cases is based on strict calculations, then you will get better. But what happens if, for some reason, you forget to take the appropriate medications on time or, even worse, accidentally exceed their permissible dose? To avoid such situations, so-called "smart" pills that need to be taken only once will help. This "smart" tablet is actually a rather complex electronic-mechanical device that, using signals from sensors of a certain type or signals from an internal timer, releases a strictly defined dose of a drug into the body.
Currently, samples of such "smart" tablets already exist and are being used. Unfortunately, they all have one drawback – they all have to leave the limits of the human body naturally after they complete their task, which in some cases is associated with certain difficulties. The solution to this problem is the use of so-called "edible" electronics, electronic devices made of materials that are safe for the human body, which completely decompose after some time after performing their functions. Such materials have long been known to scientists, but an obstacle to the widespread production and use of "edible" electronic devices until recently was the lack of an "edible" power source, chemical or battery.
Biomedical engineer Christopher Bettinger from Carnegie Mellon University managed to solve the problem of creating an "edible" power source, who developed a flexible battery whose material is decomposed with the help of microorganisms. The melamine of the sea cuttlefish, a creature capable of independently generating the electrical energy required by it in some cases, was used as the material of the electrodes of this power source. The new battery is capable of producing up to 10 microamps of current for a period of 5 to 24 hours, being anywhere in the human body. After performing its function, the material undergoes drastic changes in its structure, and the battery disintegrates under the influence of microorganisms into neutral substances that do not cause any side effects.
The structure of various modifications of melanin. Illustration of the article by Young Jo Kim et al.
Biologically derived melanin electrodes in aqueous sodium-ion energy storage devices (PNAS, 2013) – VM.
The use of such "edible" batteries is not limited only to "smart" tablets. They can become a source of energy for other "edible" medical devices equipped with various sensors and cameras, which in the near future will become a replacement for probes that are inserted into patients through the mouth or into other parts of the body surgically. In addition, such batteries will be able to power other medical devices, such as cardiac pacemakers and electrical stimulators that affect the brain and elements of the nervous system to combat diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru10.01.2014