American scientists: batteries with water will dissolve the future implantable human body

Scientists in the United States are working on a battery that can dissolve, and when it is exposed to light and heat, it dissolves automatically.

The battery, 2.5 volts, can drive a benchtop calculator for 15 minutes and can be used as a tool to secure military secrets in the future, while also being used in environmental monitoring instruments.

Reza Montazami, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Iowa in the United States, said that this is a global "transient battery". Transient batteries are a type of lithium-ion battery that was originally designed for healthcare and environmental monitoring applications. It can also be used in military classified information because it provides stable performance output at work and then degrades itself. And other fields.

The research team published an article in the International Journal of Polymer Science: "Different from traditional electronic engineering, the battery is designed to be stable and durable. One of the core features of transient electronic technology is that it can only be in a pre-designed time period. The power is supplied inside, and then it will dissolve itself under the trigger of water, light and other conditions."

The transient battery invented by Montazami's team is about 1 mm thick, 5 mm long and 6 mm wide. The voltage is more than twice that of other transient batteries. The dissolution rate is 1000 times faster than the previous self-destructive battery. More than double. When the battery is immersed in water, the polymer material first expands, then clicks on the split to separate, and finally the entire battery is dissolved, the whole process is about 30 minutes. However, the dissolution of this transient battery and water is not 100%, because some nano-scale particle structures inside the battery are not completely dissolved in water. Montazami called this technique "physical and chemical hybrid transients."

Montazami said frankly: "The newly developed battery still faces problems such as low voltage, complicated structure, difficulty in manufacturing transient voltage, and low success rate." According to IEEE "Spectrum", there are many kinds of transient electronic devices, and they are widely used. But if the power supply is not transient, it cannot be called a true transient device. However, in fact, due to the high material requirements of transient batteries, there are not many teams doing similar research in the world.

Montazami's previous proof-of-concept project to test the sound quality of electronic components in a single-layer degradable polymer conforming material. The transient battery developed this time consists of an 8-layer circuit board, and the electrolyte of the anode and cathode are enclosed. Two layers of polyvinyl alcohol material. The research team said: "If you use a larger battery, you can provide more power." They suggest that a combination of multiple small batteries can be used when high power is required.

The current transient battery can't be dissolved in the human body because it contains toxic element lithium, but researchers are studying how the battery can be dissolved in the human body harmlessly. For example, when the self-destructive medical device is implanted into the human body, it is not necessary. Removed by surgery.

In addition, this transient battery contributes to environmental protection. At present, battery recycling and disposal is a thorny problem facing the world. Waste batteries have serious pollution to the ecological environment. Researchers from the University of Illinois are developing soluble circuit boards. "When placed in a landfill, these boards will destroy themselves in three to six months," said University of Illinois professor John Rogers.