| Aug 16, 2024 |
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(Nanowerk Information) A tiny battery designed by MIT engineers may allow the deployment of cell-sized, autonomous robots for drug supply inside within the human physique, in addition to different functions corresponding to finding leaks in fuel pipelines.
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The brand new battery, which is 0.1 millimeters lengthy and 0.002 millimeters thick — roughly the thickness of a human hair — can seize oxygen from air and use it to oxidize zinc, making a present of as much as 1 volt. That is sufficient to energy a small circuit, sensor, or actuator, the researchers confirmed.
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“We think this is going to be very enabling for robotics,” says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT and the senior creator of the research. “We’re building robotic functions onto the battery and starting to put these components together into devices.”
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Ge Zhang PhD ’22 and Sungyun Yang, an MIT graduate scholar, are the lead creator of the paper, which seems in Science Robotics (“High energy density picoliter-scale zinc-air microbatteries for colloidal robotics”).
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| The zinc-air battery is 0.1 millimeters lengthy and 0.002 millimeters thick. (Picture: Courtesy of the researchers)
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Powered by batteries
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For a number of years, Strano’s lab has been engaged on tiny robots that may sense and reply to stimuli of their setting. One of many main challenges in growing such tiny robots is ensuring that they’ve sufficient energy.
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Different researchers have proven that they’ll energy microscale units utilizing solar energy, however the limitation to that strategy is that the robots should have a laser or one other gentle supply pointed at them always. Such units are generally known as “marionettes” as a result of they’re managed by an exterior energy supply. Placing an influence supply corresponding to a battery inside these tiny units may free them to roam a lot farther.
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“The marionette systems don’t really need a battery because they’re getting all the energy they need from outside,” Strano says. “But if you want a small robot to be able to get into spaces that you couldn’t access otherwise, it needs to have a greater level of autonomy. A battery is essential for something that’s not going to be tethered to the outside world.”
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To create robots that might develop into extra autonomous, Strano’s lab determined to make use of a sort of battery generally known as a zinc-air battery. These batteries, which have an extended lifespan than many different forms of batteries attributable to their excessive power density, are sometimes utilized in listening to aids.
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The battery that they designed consists of a zinc electrode related to a platinum electrode, embedded right into a strip of a polymer known as SU-8, which is often used for microelectronics. When these electrodes work together with oxygen molecules from the air, the zinc turns into oxidized and releases electrons that circulate to the platinum electrode, making a present.
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On this research, the researchers confirmed that this battery may present sufficient power to energy an actuator — on this case, a robotic arm that may be raised and lowered. The battery may additionally energy a memristor, {an electrical} part that may retailer recollections of occasions by altering its electrical resistance, and a clock circuit, which permits robotic units to maintain monitor of time.
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The battery additionally gives sufficient energy to run two several types of sensors that change their electrical resistance once they encounter chemical substances within the setting. One of many sensors is comprised of atomically skinny molybdenum disulfide and the opposite from carbon nanotubes.
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“We’re making the basic building blocks in order to build up functions at the cellular level,” Strano says.
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Robotic swarms
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On this research, the researchers used a wire to attach their battery to an exterior machine, however in future work they plan to construct robots by which the battery is included into a tool.
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“This is going to form the core of a lot of our robotic efforts,” Strano says. “You can build a robot around an energy source, sort of like you can build an electric car around the battery.”
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A kind of efforts revolves round designing tiny robots that may very well be injected into the human physique, the place they may hunt down a goal website after which launch a drug corresponding to insulin. To be used within the human physique, the researchers envision that the units can be made from biocompatible supplies that will break aside as soon as they had been not wanted.
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The researchers are additionally engaged on growing the voltage of the battery, which can allow further functions.
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