Sunday, September 13, 2020

External skin patch transfers power to medical implants

How convincing is this solution? You have to wear a skin patch. This particular skin patch penetrates only 2.5 mm through skin.

"[Researchers] created the light-source patch from an array of AlGaInP micro-LEDs powered by a conventional 3 V battery. The micro-LEDs emit light at 670 nm, which penetrates roughly 2.5 mm through tissue and can be converted into electricity by photovoltaic materials such as GaAs (which has a bandgap lower than the photon energy)."

External skin patch transfers power to medical implants – Physics World Biomedical electronic implants, such as cardiac pacemakers, deep brain stimulators or spinal cord stimulators, enhance quality-of-life by providing diagnostics and treatments within the human body. Most of these devices, however, are powered by batteries. And once these batteries run down, patients must undergo invasive surgery to replace them.

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