Replacing the batteries of implanted medical devices such as pacemakers usually requires surgery. An invention (pictured) by Eijiro Miyako at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Ikeda, Japan, and his colleagues could, in theory, provide a noninvasive way to recharge such devices. The authors have built an implantable converter that generates electric current when hit with laser light that is beamed through the skin.
The device consists of carbon nanotubes — which heat up when exposed to laser light — wrapped in a polymer and dispersed in silicone. The heat warms one side of the converter more than the other, and the flow of heat to the cooler side generates an electric voltage.
The researchers show that, when irradiated with laser light, their device can electrically stimulate a zebrafish heart, and can generate a voltage while implanted in a rat.
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Recharge through the skin. Nature 480, 295 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/480295a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/480295a
