So far, the battery has been tested only in pigs, in which it powered devices for up to three days. If proven safe and effective in people, the battery could someday power temporary devices inside the gut while avoiding surgery to retrieve a conventional battery from the body when the device is no longer needed.
Examples of ingestible medical devices include those that detect bleeding, dispense medicines, or stimulate specific tissues or organs.
The battery is built in layers. A magnesium alloy forms the anode (the battery's negative terminal), while the cathode (positive terminal) contains molybdenum trioxide and activated carbon. Between the two sides is a biodegradable electrolyte that allows the battery to generate electric current. These materials have been used in earlier biodegradable battery prototypes for temporary medical and wearable electronics.
To keep the battery from breaking down too quickly in stomach acid, the researchers coated it with beeswax. Some versions also got a layer of candelilla wax — derived from the desert shrub Euphorbia antisyphilitica — for longer protection.
The team made two versions of the battery, including one that was small enough to fit inside a standard gelatin capsule. In lab tests, it produced about 1.77 volts and could store and deliver 2 milliampere-hours per square centimeter, which is enough capacity to power low-power electronics.
Testing the battery inside the body
The researchers placed the battery prototypes inside 3D-printed capsules and administered them to pigs orally using an endoscope — essentially a long tube. Both versions of the battery worked for up to three days, although their voltage and capacity dropped as they gradually degraded. The larger battery's voltage dropped from about 1.8 volts to 1.6 volts after one day and then down to about 1.45 volts by the third day, while the smaller battery fell from 1.7 volts to 1.35 volts over the same period.
John Rogers, materials scientist at Northwestern University
The larger battery powered a swallowable capsule that electrically stimulated the stomach; this increased levels of the hunger-stimulating hormone ghrelin in the blood without causing visible tissue damage at the stimulation site. Gastric electrical stimulation is already used in people with severe gastroparesis, a condition that slows the rate at which the stomach empties; the battery-powered capsule tested in this study is experimental.
The battery and its biodegradable components broke down, but the electronic circuit board used for the stomach-stimulation experiment did not; instead, the pigs passed it naturally. "Making every part of the device bioresorbable could eliminate the risk of a leftover component becoming lodged in the gastrointestinal tract," Rogers said.
Related storiesThe researchers' biggest remaining challenge is controlling the battery's working lifetime and making its breakdown more predictable, Traverso said.
The team also plans to conduct longer tests under conditions that more closely mimic the human gastrointestinal tract. They are working toward an initial clinical trial of the RFID system that could begin in about two years, Traverso said.
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