The soft and stretchable ‘jelly batteries’ that could be implanted in humans to treat health conditions

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Soft and stretchable jelly-like strips could be the key to providing electric power on and even inside human bodies. Scientists at the University of Cambridge say the stretchability of their newly developed ‘jelly battery’ could be used in implants in our bodies where it was previously impossible. Stephen O’Neil, a PhD researcher at the University of Cambridge who worked on the study demonstrates: “This is an example of one of the pieces of gel that we use to make up the battery. As you can see it’s very soft and stretchable just like jelly really, and with about five of these stuck together we can make the hydrogel power source.” Each battery consists of a three-dimensional network of polymers containing over 60% of water. As well as being stretchy, the hydrogels can be squashed without permanently losing their original shape and can heal themselves when damaged, making them ideal for implanting inside the body. The stretchability of this battery allows it to be usable in contexts not possible with other types of hydrogel batteries. “Demonstration of stretchability means that if you were to put them on to your skin and wear them as a wearable, you could have flex of your skin, of your muscles, and it wouldn’t change the performance of the device itself,” says Jade McCune, PhD researcher at the University of Cambridge. The researchers are planning future experiments to test the hydrogels inside real living organisms before they can be considered for medical applications. “The ultimate goal is for us to implant these power sources inside someone’s body and then they can last over several days or weeks outputting power to power these devices which can either continuously record or continuously act as therapy for example for things like deep brain stimulation for trying to cure diseases like Parkinson’s,” O’Neil says. These batteries may be a long way off from being used on or inside human bodies, but the researchers here at the University of Cambridge say the scope of their potential could be game-changing for medical science. This article was provided by The Associated Press.