In order to power wearable electronic devices, engineers are always looking for ways to generate electricity from the human body. They have already devised plans to convert heartbeat, walking and muscle movement into electricity. Recently, Fudan University in China developed a light generator that can implant human veins. The generator can use the blood flowing in blood vessels to generate electricity autonomously, or it will be used clinically in the future.
Now, Fudan University's research team has found a way to generate electricity using blood flow. The material used is microfibers spun from carbon nanotubes. The fiber can be implanted into blood vessels to collect the energy generated by the blood flow. The researchers proposed basic concepts and published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, but they have not been tested in animal experiments.
The above-mentioned microfibers have a diameter of 0.8 mm and can be prepared by wrapping an array of ordered carbon nanotubes with plastic fibers, or they can be twisted into yarn-like fibers.
In fact, as early as 2011, Swiss researchers had developed a micro-turbine based on water-flow turbines. Theoretically, the microturbine can be implanted in the human body and generate electricity using blood flow. But in the end, it was found that the device will produce a lethal blood clot after being implanted in the human body, and it has to be abandoned due to the high security risk.
Fudan University researchers called this system a mini version of hydropower, but the principle is different. If the fiber is introduced into the salt solution, the immersed nanotubes and the solution interface form a double layer in which the surface of the nanotube is negatively charged and the surface of the solution is positively charged. As the solution flows through, the negative ions in the solution and the electrons in the nanotubes balance the electric double layer. However, they are not completely successful, resulting in different charges on both ends of the fiber, which in turn generate voltage and current. Other teams have produced nanotube-based “yarns†that can generate electricity when twisted and stretched.
When fibers (connected together with copper wire) are placed in a tube containing a salt solution, the salt solution flows to generate electricity, and its efficiency exceeds 23%. This is more efficient than previously reported fibrous energy harvesting devices. In addition, the longer the fibers, the faster the fluid flows, and the greater the salt solution concentration, the higher the output power. At present, R&D personnel have not announced the specific power that the equipment can produce.
Although this technology is still in its early stages, they have implanted the device in the frog body and the experimental results are ideal.
A 30 cm long device can generate 0.04 milliwatts of power, enough to power small sensors and implanters. To demonstrate the use of the device in humans, the researchers connected three 10-cm fibers to the frog's sciatic nerve, and then dipped these fibers into a flowing salt solution, resulting in slight muscle contraction.
The generator is based on aligned carbon nanotubes wound on a polymer core, and the fibrous fluid nanodevice (FFNG) is responsible for the relative motion so that the blood flow gradient force is obtained through fiber delamination. R&D personnel said that the safety of the generator is extremely high, and it will be used clinically in the future to contribute to the implantation of medical device technology.
In addition, the researchers said that these fibers can also be compiled into textiles to make clothes that can be powered.
With the development of implanted medical device technology, more and more areas will be supported. Although its safety will be widely questioned within a certain period of time, we can still believe that these technologies and equipment will become an important part of future clinical care.
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