Medical implants save lives and improve the quality of life for many patients, as they monitor health and deliver treatments. However, their batteries take up space, and eventually fail, according to Arman Ahnood of RMIT University in Australia. He and his team have developed an idea that could bring medical implants without batteries nearer.
Medical Implants With Diamond-Titanium Power
The RMIT team have produced an experimental 3D printed diamond-titanium device, that generates electricity from flowing liquid. And, as an added benefit, their prototype receives wireless power through living tissue, enabling remote monitoring of those liquid flows.
The University announcement that we link to below, hints at the possibility of longer-lasting stents, medication-delivery systems, and even prosthetics. Such medical implants without batteries apparently coming nearer, would be tailor-made and contain no active electronics.
This innovative thinking could be close to a world first. Gathering energy from both fluid movements and wireless signals appears to be something new. Especially where it involves blending semi-conductive diamonds with a metallic material!
More Advantages from Battery-Free Electronics
The diamonds turn the lightweight, strong, and electrically conductive titanium metal into an ‘active, multi-functional platform’ according to the announcement. This platform can then scavenge energy, sense flows, and receive wireless power while remaining bio-compatible and strong.
Ahnood and his team trialed their prototype using saline solutions in their laboratory. However, they believe that the same principles would apply to human blood flowing over the surface of the device.
“When saline solutions flowed across the surface in our lab tests, it produced a small but steady electrical signal. This is completely new,” a team member explains. “Most implant materials are either insulating or conducting.
“This combination of both aspects in a single material lets us see and use this electricity,” the spokesperson continues. We do live in exciting times, as medical implants without batteries begin to beckon.
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