Blood Glucose-Powered Pacemakers
May 24, 2016 | Terry Sharrer
You may remember from childhood being fascinated by sticking a copper penny into a potato, and then inserting a galvanized (zinc) nail which then, using the potato’s juice as an electrolyte, lit up a small bulb. You might also have used a sweet Valencia orange for the same trick. In any case, researchers at RUVID, a consortium of university labs in Valencia, Spain, are studying the possibility of developing polymer and carbonaceous electrodes for pacemakers that will rely on blood glucose as their electrolyte to produce the small amount of electricity for the task. With that, there would be no need to change the device’s battery. MORE
Image Credit: Asociación RUVID and ScienceDaily.com