New Device Harnesses Heartbeats To Power Medical Implants, Published In ACS Nano

A team of researchers working in China and the U.S. has developed an electric generator that attaches to the heart to power an implantable cardiac monitor. The implantable triboelectric nanogenerator (iTENG) harnesses the actual physical movement of the heart to produce a current that is then fed into a small computer that controls the monitor. A receiving coil positioned externally of the body captures the data emitted by the cardiac monitor, resulting in a totally self-sustained system that does not need any outside power sources.