A team of engineers led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst has designed an ultrathin, flexible mesh that seamlessly integrates electronics with human cells to provide a continuous, reliable, powerful electrical supply. The study, published in Science Advances, provides a potential solution to one of the most difficult problems in wearable and implantable electronics: how to get rid of batteries.
“Humans have long dreamed of a future where certain electronics can augment our abilities,” says Jun Yao, associate professor in UMass Amherst’s Riccio College of Engineering and the paper’s senior author. One can think of famous examples from science fiction’s cyborgs, but there are also plenty of everyday examples that have nothing to do with Star Trek: pacemakers and implantable defibrillators, for example, or deep brain stimulators, cochlear implants and various health monitors. Every one of these needs a power source.
Unfortunately, batteries—the dominant power source—are bulky and eventually run out of juice, and making them smaller and more flexible reduces the charge they can store.
