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 be