Dissolving batteries for powering implantable electronics
A team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, led by John Rogers, has developed a biodegradable battery source for implantable devices.
Rogers's team developed biodegradable chips in 2012 to monitor temperature and transmit the data via radio signals, but they relied on external power sources.
The biodegradable battery, pictured, uses magnesium foil anodes, cathodes of iron, molybdenum or tungsten and a phosphate buffered saline solution electrolyte. All these compounds are biocompatible and will slowly dissolve in the body.
The team has created a battery with four stacked cells, but its voltage depends on the materials used. As an example, a stacked magnesium-molybdenum battery is said to produce enough energy to power a single LED light source.
