A battery designed by MIT chemical engineer Michael Strano and colleagues could make it possible for cell-size autonomous robots to deliver drugs in the human body or find leaks in gas pipelines, among other applications.
Seeking to allow microscale devices to operate without an external power source, Strano’s lab focused on zinc-air batteries, which have a long lifespan thanks to their high energy density. The one they designed, which is 0.1 millimeters long and 0.002 millimeters thick, consists of a zinc electrode and a platinum electrode embedded into a strip of polymer. When they interact with oxygen from the air, the zinc releases electrons that flow to the platinum, creating a current with a potential of up to a volt—enough to power an actuator, the researchers showed.
The battery could also power a memristor, which can store memories of events by changing its electrical resistance; a clock circuit, which allows robots to keep track of time; or sensors that change their electrical resistance when they encounter certain chemicals.
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