TECH

The first edible battery is here, and it’s certainly great news

The digestible battery made from food is a promising discovery from several points of view.

In the vast majority of cases, we “only” expect a battery to have as much capacity as possible, to be able to charge it as quickly as possible and to keep its factory properties as long as possible, but that is definitely not on the list to be able to eat it, even though it is also a legitimate may be a requirement.

The scientists of the Italian Institute of Technology (Italiano di Tecnologia, IIT) presented why, when they recently unveiled the first battery that can be swallowed without having to immediately run to the doctor.

The on the IIT website and that Advanced Materials in the scientific journal The presented battery takes up only one square centimeter of space, but it can provide 48 microamperes of current for 12 minutes, with which you can start smaller electronic devices. Of course, you don’t have to keep it from getting an electric shock if you put it in your stomach, since the tiny battery operates at only 0.65 volts, and if you don’t swallow it, it can be recharged dozens of times.

The most interesting question is, of course, how the researchers achieved the possibility: the anode (negative pole) of the battery is provided by the vitamin riboflavin, the anode (positive pole) is the food supplement called quercetin, and the electrolyte that generates the electric charge is a water-based solution , and the short circuits were solved with a separator made of nori algae. The battery also contains activated carbon (to increase conductivity), as well as beeswax and food-grade decorative gold (as an external contact).

It’s not exactly a dream menu, but over time it can prove to be extremely useful, because according to IIT scientists, the technology can even be used in ingestible medical devices, making it easier and more efficient to perform a thorough examination of the body. Other potential fields of application of the edible battery include the propulsion of children’s toys, where swallowed batteries pose a very real danger, as well as the control of food quality, because paired with a small device for this purpose, the effects of the products on the body could be monitored directly during digestion.

Mario Carioni, the coordinator of the research, said that they are already working on smaller but higher-capacity versions of the battery, and he hopes that the project, with a support of 2 million euros, will also inspire battery manufacturers to come up with safer, non-toxic solutions.

Horváth Péter