https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/battery-free-bioelectronic-implants/4020431.article

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Features

Battery-free bioelectronic implants

By James Mitchell CrowJames Mitchell Crow2024-11-05T15:28:00

Implantable devices

Source: (c) John A Rogers et al and (c) Jacob Robinson et al

Spurred by advances in energy-harvesting materials, a new generation
of advanced implantable biomedical devices is emerging that does away
with the bulky battery. James Mitchell Crow reports

When Swedish doctors performed the first fully implantable cardiac
pacemaker surgery in 1958, the device they had invented was powered
by a rechargeable nickel-cadmium battery, connected to a wire coil
that enabled magnetic induction wireless recharging across the skin.
The battery, coil and controlling electronics were housed in a
shoe-polish-sized can implanted in the abdomen, with leads running to
the heart to deliver the pulsed electrical stimulus.

Millions of people with a slow or irregular heartbeat have since
benefited from a pacemaker implant - which soon evolved to use
longer-lasting batteries that were replaced surgically every few
years, rather than requiring a weekly recharge. More than six decades
later, however, the basic pacemaker design - a remotely located can
containing the bulky battery pack and electronics, connected to the
heart by long leads - remains unchanged.

As bioelectronics has advanced, experimental implants have been
demonstrated that enable people with severe spinal cord injuries to
walk again, or people who have lost a limb to control and experience
a sense of touch from a robotic prosthetic. To turn these
experimental prototypes into practical devices that could be
implanted at target sites around the body, developing miniaturised
all-in-one implants could be key. The limitation on miniaturisation
is not the electronics, but the power available after shrinking the
battery.

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