Glucose is the sugar we absorb from food and the fuel that fuels every cell in our body. Can glucose feed medical implants? This was confirmed by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Technical University of Munich.

They developed a new type of glucose fuel cell that converts sugar into electricity. The thickness of the chip is only 400 nanometers, or about 1/100 the diameter of a human hair. The energy source of sugar produces about 43 microwatts per square centimeter. This is the highest figure to date.

In addition, the new device is flexible and can withstand temperatures up to 600 degrees Celsius. If a chip is attached to a medical implant, the fuel cell can remain stable during the high temperature sterilization process required for all implanted devices.

“Glucose is all over the body, and the idea is to collect this readily available energy and use it to power implanted devices,” the researchers said.