Battery-Free Bioelectronic Implants

(chemistryworld.com)

34 points | by Brajeshwar 9 hours ago ago

8 comments

  • Rygian 6 hours ago

    I've always wondered why we can't build devices that process blood sugar into electricity to power themselves. Or blood pressure/flow itself.

    • whaaaaat 5 hours ago

      I think MIT developed a glucose fuel cell that can take energy from blood. But the safeguards you'd need there (and the ability to ensure it remains clean/usable) are probably a whole lot more complex than building just the fuel cell.

      That said, I'd love to have something that could pull a little excess glucose from the ol' bloodstream.

      • elcritch 2 hours ago

        Yeah all of the complex chemical reactions our bodies do are handled by structures which self-repair when damaged. Our technology level isn't that advanced yet. Any in body system would almost certainly need to be replaced more often than a battery + inductive charger combo would.

        That said, it would be awesome if we could and this research are small stepping stones on that path.

      • cmiller1 3 hours ago

        I mean, your muscles are pretty good at that, they can even turn that energy into useful work!

      • hollerith 5 hours ago

        Isn't it easier to eat such that there's no excess in the first place?

        • xelamonster 3 hours ago

          No? I mean I'm with you that it sounds like a really bad idea and would probably not end well, but laying on a table so someone can implant a device that handles it for you forever does sound a whole lot easier than having to actively balance your intakes for your entire life.

          I totally understand the appeal, hell I'd do it myself if you could give me a guarantee, my problem with it is there is no guarantee and it's 99.9% likely to not actually be safe.

        • jajko 4 hours ago

          But then you wouldn't get cyberpunk, at least till some septic shock happens

  • jtrueb 2 hours ago

    Hey, that’s our stuff. we do a ton of different types of battery free stuff beyond this.

    Check out bioelectronics.northwestern.edu and rogersgroup.northwestern.edu