Scientists Discover Unlikely Source Of Electricity

"The impact of this discovery in the field of biological piezoelectricity will be huge ..."By Tracy Mastaler
on October 6, 2017 at 8:35am

Scientists have discovered a way to produce electricity from human tears and saliva, which could — if harvested effectively — become a new fuel for implanted medical devices.

The finding came when researchers in Ireland from the University of Limerick’s Bernal Institute applied pressure to lysozyme, a protein found in both tears and saliva.

The team’s groundbreaking report was published in the October 2, 2017, issue of the scientific journal Applied Physics Letters.

Researchers made the discovery after applying pressure to a film of lysozyme crystals squeezed between two glass slides.

The team was able to detect and measure the production of piezoelectricity, a form of energy in which an electric charge accumulates in response to pressure.

Although piezoelectricity has been known and understood for years, the process has been applied to materials such as quartz and used to power resonators and vibrators in mobile phones, deep ocean sonars and ultrasound imaging.

Bone, tendon and wood are among additional substances that are capable of producing piezoelectricity, with milk and eggs even being a contender to the list of power-producing substances, due to the lysozyme that resides within them.

“While piezoelectricity is used all around us, the capacity to generate electricity from this particular protein had not been explored,” said one of the researchers, physicist Aimee Stapleton.

“However, because it is a biological material, it is non-toxic so it could have many innovative applications such as electroactive anti-microbial coatings for medical implants,” Stapleton said.

The scientists contend that lysozyme crystals are similar in efficiency to quartz crystals, whose piezoelectric capabilities were discovered in the late 19th century by French physicists Pierre and Jacques Curie.

Since quartz is a non-biological material, the discovery of an equivalent that is compatible with the inner body could lead to the development of new implantable piezoelectric devices.

The scientists noted that such devices could include those that release drugs into the body, powered and controlled by sensors that detect lysozyme under the skin.

Though some piezoelectric devices are currently available, many contain toxic elements such as lead.

Professor Luuk van der Wielen, director of the Bernal Institute, expressed his satisfaction at the recent discovery, adding that Bernal scientists are “leading from the front” on the progress.

“The impact of this discovery in the field of biological piezoelectricity will be huge.”

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