Atlanta (GA) - Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) say they have developed a "new class of electronic components" that could lead the way to bendable and battery-less electronic devices inside the human body - which could monitor blood flow, organ activity and other vital signs.
The technology described by GIT scientists is dubbed "nano-piezotronics," which takes advantage of the semiconducting and piezoelectric characteristics of zinc oxide nanowires. So far, these properties have been used for field-effect transistors, diodes, sensors as well as nanogenerators that can produce controllable current by bending and releasing zinc oxide nanowires and nanobelts. According to a press release, nano-piezotronics can bend and adapt to the shape of their environment; to create usable current, nanogenerators take advantage of their environment and convert, for example, kinetic energy or heat into electricity. As a result, researchers believe that this technology could enable a new generation of body electronics - for example self-sustaining pacemakers that do not need batteries or nano-electronics that measure blood flow and temperatures down to the molecule level.
