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Nanogenerator Taps Your Beating Heart to Create Electricity

by Terrence O'Brien on June 6, 2010 at 01:00 PM

Nanogenerator ImplantA research team from Georgia Tech, led by Professor Zhong Lin Wang, have developed a nanogenerator that could one day be embedded in human bodies and power medical implants. The tiny nanowire takes advantage of the piezoelectric effect to generate electrical current as its squeeze by your muscles when you breath or your heart beats.

Wang and his team successfully implanted the nanogenerator on the diaphragm and in the heart of a rat. The power generated by that single nanowire generator is far too small to be useful, but the researchers are hard at work on a one that incorporates hundreds of nanowires, still small enough to be unobtrusively installed, but potentially powerful enough for tiny sensors and monitors. Though it's currently little more than a fascinating proof of concept, Professor Wang told Technology Review, "Our ultimate goal is to make self-powered nano devices for medical applications." [From: Technology Review]

Tags: health, medicine, nanogenerator, nanotechnology, nanowires, professor zhong lin wang, ProfessorZhongLinWang, science, top

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