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Researchers have shown that a battery activated by spit has the potential to power point-of-care diagnostic applications in extreme conditions. In a paper published in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies, the researchers described how they created a high-performance, paper-based, bacteria-powered battery which generates power within minutes of adding saliva. They created the battery by building microbial fuel cells with inactive, freeze-dried exoelectrogenic cells. "On-demand micro-power generation is required, especially for point-of-care diagnostic applications in developing countries," said Seokheun Choi, Assistant Professor, Binghamton University, State University of New York.
"Typically, those applications require only several tens of microwatt-level power for several minutes, but commercial batteries or other energy harvesting technologies are too expensive and over-qualified. Also, they pose environmental pollution issues," Choi added. The battery generated reliable power with one drop of saliva, supplying on-board power that could be used by the next generation of disposable, paper-based point-of-care diagnostic platforms. "The proposed battery has competitive advantages over other conventional power solutions because the biological fluid for on-demand battery activation is readily available even in the most resource-constrained settings, and the freeze-drying technology enables long-term storage of cells without degradation or denaturation," wrote the researchers. (Read: 7 causes of excessive saliva or hyper-salivation)
Choi now wants to improve the batter's power density so that more applications can be powered. "Now, our power density is about a few microwatts per centimetre square. Although 16 microbial fuel cells connected in a series on a single sheet of paper generated desired values of electrical current and voltage to power a light-emitting diode (LED), further power improvement is required for other electronic applications demanding hundreds of milliwatts of energy," Choi said. (Read: Saliva may disclose risk of Alzheimer s disease)
Source: IANS
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