Energy Harvesting from a bio cell

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates experimentally that electrical energy can be directly harvested from cell membrane potentials of biological cells and utilized to power wireless communication systems for transmitting bio-sensed data.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for energy harvesting from cell membranes and showcases its application in powering wireless bio-sensing communication.

Findings

Electrical energy can be harvested from cell membrane potentials.

Harvested energy can power wireless communication devices.

Bio-sensed information can be transmitted remotely using this method.

Abstract

This work shows experimentally how electrical energy can be harvested directly from cell membrane potential and used to power a wireless communication. The experiment is performed by exploiting the membrane potential of Xenopus oocytes taken from female frogs. Electrical potential energy of the membrane is transferred to a capacitor connected to the cell via a proper electrical circuit. Once the capacitor has reached the planned amount of energy, the circuit is disconnected from the cell and the stored energy is used to power a radio frequency communication that carries bio-sensed information to a distanced receiving circuit. Our result shows that electrical energy can be harvested directly from biological cells and used for a number of purposes, including wireless communication of sensed biological quantities to a remote receiving hub.