Researchers From the University of Chicago Creates Biodegradable Solar Cell Made of Porous Silicon to Power Pacemaker

Scientists at the University of Chicago invented a new kind of solar cell that could spur helpful technology, such as pacemakers and other medical devices. The new solar cell will generate solar energy from a light source to send electricity to less-invasive implants.

The study was headed by Aleksander Prominski, a member of University of Chicago chemist Bozhi Tian and specializes in developing technology that connects biological tissues to wires to modulate brain signals and medical implants. He and his team discovered a new way of making a single-layer solar cell and creating holes to make it porous and more flexible.

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Solar Cell Made of Porous Silicon Can Make Pacemaker Body-Friendly and Less Likely to Cause Side Effects

Holey Solar Cell

Holes in sponges and English muffins make them more flexible to bend into small crevices or, in the muffin's case, to sop up the perfect amount of jam and butter.

In the study titled "Porosity-Based Heterojunctions Enable Leadless Optoelectronic Modulation of Tissues," published in Nature Materials, scientists found that holes can also improve medical devices. That is why they came up with a new type of solar cell with holes in the top layer to make them porous.

Solar cells usually have two layers and scientists found that they could create a solar cell out of pure silicon by making one layer with holes, according to PV Magazine. The result is a spongy solar cell that can be less than five microns across.

Researchers noted that the spongy solar cell has multiple advantages over the traditional cells in the market while maintaining the efficacy of the final product.

Prominski added that the spongy solar cell could be made in a matter of minutes in a process that does not require high temperatures of toxic gases. They also noted that it has a high photocurrent, about two orders of magnitude higher than previous designs.

The innovation could be the basis for less-invasive pacemakers or implant devices that could be paired with a small light source to reduce the size of bulky batteries that implants currently use.

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Spongy Solar Cell Could Be Biodegradable

Spongy solar cells have other benefits aside from it being easily made or having high photocurrent. According to the news release, the team also managed to further enhance the properties of the device by treating it with oxygen plasma, so it oxidizes the surface layer. They also added a few atoms-thick layers of metal oxide.

The end product is a biodegradable solar cell that could be used for short-term cardiac procedures and let degrade naturally after a few months instead of conducting a second surgery for removal. This innovation could also be helpful for cardiac resynchronization therapy that corrects arrhythmias because the devices could be placed in multiple areas of the heart to improve coverage.

The team is excited about the technology's application for nerve stimulation, like those people who have chronic nerve degeneration in the wrists or hands. Also, it could be of interest to other non-medical applications because the solar cell works best in a liquid environment and could be used in artificial leaves and solar fuels.

The team works with researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine to develop the technology for future use in humans and collaborates with UChicago Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and innovation to commercialize it.