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The
world’s first “electrified snail” has joined the menagerie of
cockroaches, rats, rabbits and other animals previously implanted with
biofuel cells that generate electricity—perhaps for future spy cameras,
eavesdropping microphones and other electronics—from natural sugar in
their bodies. Scientists are describing how their new biofuel cell
worked for months in a free-living snail in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
In
the report, Evgeny Katz and colleagues at Clarkson University point out
that many previous studies have involved “potentially implantable”
biofuel cells. So far, however, none has produced an implanted biofuel
cell in a small live animal that could generate electricity for an
extended period of time without harming the animal. “The snail with the
implanted biofuel cell will be able to operate in a natural environment,
producing sustainable electrical micropower for activating various
bioelectronic devices,” the authors say.
To
turn a living snail into a power source, the researchers made two small
holes in its shell and inserted high-tech electrodes made from
compressed carbon nanotubes. They coated the highly conductive material
with enzymes, which foster chemical reactions in animals’ bodies. Using a
different enzyme on each electrode, one pulling electrons from glucose
and another using those electrons to turn oxygen molecules into water,
they induced an electric current. Importantly, the long-lasting enzymes
could generate electricity again and again after the scientists fed and
rested what they termed the “electrified” snail, which lived freely for
several months with the implanted fuel cell.
Implanted Biofuel Cell Operating in a Living Snail
Source: American Chemical Society
