Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created zinc-air batteries smaller than a grain of sand, potentially advancing the field of miniature robotics. These microscale power sources could enable cell-sized robots to autonomously sense and respond to their environment.
The batteries, which are 0.1 millimeters long and 0.002 millimeters thick, generate up to 1 volt of electricity. They do this by using oxygen in the air to oxidize zinc, generating enough energy to power small circuits, sensors, or actuators.
Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT and principal investigator, says this development could make a significant contribution to the advancement of robotics. The research team is integrating robotic functionality into the battery design and assembling these components into functional devices.
The research, published in Science Robotics, addresses a key challenge in the development of microscale robots: providing adequate power without external tethering. Unlike previous systems that rely on external power sources, these new batteries could allow tiny robots to operate independently.
The zinc-air battery design features zinc and platinum electrodes embedded in a polymer strip commonly used in microelectronics. When exposed to oxygen, the zinc oxidizes, releasing electrons that flow to the platinum electrode and generate electricity.
The study demonstrates the battery’s ability to power various components, including a robotic arm, a memristor for event memory storage, a clock circuit for timekeeping, and two types of chemical sensors. Potential applications for these miniature robots include targeted drug delivery in the human body and leak detection in gas pipelines. Researchers are working to integrate the battery directly into robotic devices and are exploring biocompatible materials for in-body applications.
This research was funded by the U.S. Army Research Office, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and a MathWorks Engineering Fellowship.
Research article: ScienceRobotics: High energy density picoliter-scale zinc-air microbatteries for colloidal robotics
Source: MIT News
