>
Spotlight May 2023: Dual energy – edible batteries
An Italian research group reports on edible batteries that supply electric current and can be digested as food, thus providing energy a second time. What sounds funny at first has a serious background, because in medicine, power sources are needed that could be transported through the digestive tract and possibly remain in the body unintentionally, e.g., for swallowable mini-cameras that could be used in gastroscopies and colonoscopies. If the battery materials are then digestible, there will be no problematic effects from the battery if it does not pass through the body quickly enough.
The battery presented is composed of dietary and nutritional supplements, and since all components are either digestible or pass through the body unchanged, they could actually be eaten. The authors did test the battery’s functionality, so it does provide electricity, but they did not eat their battery because the battery case was too large and not constructed of digestible materials, so more research is needed here.
Original publication:
Ilic, I. K., Galli, V., Lamanna, L., Cataldi, P., Pasquale, L., Annese, V. F., Athanassiou, A., Caironi, M., An Edible Rechargeable Battery. Adv. Mater. 2023, 2211400.
Weitere Spotlights
Spotlight September: A methodology for the automatic evaluation of data quality and completeness of nanomaterials for risk assessment purposes
This paper describes a method for automatically assessing the quality and completeness of nanosafety data for the purpose of risk assessment. Steps to develop the methodology for assessing data completeness and the methodology for assessing quality are presented. The methodology is tailored to physicochemical and hazard (meta) data, but can also be configured with appropriate […]
Read moreSpotlight February 2022: Probabilistic risk assessment – the keystone for the future of toxicology
The basics of toxicology are constantly being reconsidered, and the approach to risk assessment is therefore constantly being put to the test, because, as William Osler is cited in this publication, “Medicine (toxicology) is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability“. In this recent paper, the team around Thomas Hartung (Johns-Hopkins University/University of […]
Read moreSpotlight July: Plastic Pollution and the Urgent Need for Comprehensive Action
Plastic pollution has become a significant threat to the oceans, biodiversity, and ecosystems worldwide. Despite efforts to reduce plastic consumption, escalating plastic production continues to increase the magnitude of plastic pollution in the environment. In response to this crisis, the UN-Environmental Assembly (Link) adopted a resolution in March 2022 to develop a legally binding treaty […]
Read moreSpotlight October 2020: Nanosafety – Topic of the Future
Research on nanosafety is a driver of innovation as the spotlight in July has demonstrated. But furthermore, this research field is built on routine as well if researchers look for the “needle in the haystack”. In many areas the safety research initiates the development of new methods, e.g. for the determination of nanoparticles within exposed organisms via […]
Read more