Progress towards the integration of technology into living organisms requires electrical power sources that are biocompatible, mechanically flexible, and able to harness the chemical energy available inside biological systems. Conventional batteries were not designed with these criteria in mind. The electric organ of the knifefish Electrophorus electricus (commonly known as the electric eel) is, however, an example of an electrical power source that operates within biological constraints while featuring power characteristics that include peak potential differences of 600 volts and currents of 1 ampere. Here we introduce an electric-eel-inspired power concept that uses gradients of ions between miniature polyacrylamide hydrogel compartments bounded by a repeating sequence of cation- and anion-selective hydrogel membranes. The system uses a scalable stacking or folding geometry that generates 110 volts at open circuit or 27 milliwatts per square metre per gel cell upon simultaneous, self-registered mechanical contact activation of thousands of gel compartments in series while circumventing power dissipation before contact. Unlike typical batteries, these systems are soft, flexible, transparent, and potentially biocompatible. These characteristics suggest that artificial electric organs could be used to power next-generation implant materials such as pacemakers, implantable sensors, or prosthetic devices in hybrids of living and non-living systems.

中文翻译：

---

一种受电鳗启发的堆叠水凝胶软电源

将技术融入生物体的进展需要具有生物相容性、机械灵活性并能够利用生物系统内可用的化学能的电源。传统电池的设计并未考虑到这些标准。然而，刀鱼 Electrophorus electricus（俗称电鳗）的电器官是在生物限制下运行的电源的一个例子，同时具有包括 600 伏峰值电势差和 1 安培电流在内的功率特性。在这里，我们引入了一种受电鳗启发的动力概念，该概念利用微型聚丙烯酰胺水凝胶隔室之间的离子梯度，该隔室由重复序列的阳离子和阴离子选择性水凝胶膜界定。该系统采用可扩展的堆叠或折叠几何形状，在数千个串联凝胶隔室同时、自注册机械接触激活时，可在开路时产生 110 伏电压，或每平方米每平方米 27 毫瓦电压，同时避免接触前的功耗。与典型的电池不同，这些系统柔软、灵活、透明，并且具有潜在的生物相容性。这些特性表明，人造电力器官可用于为下一代植入材料提供动力，例如起搏器、植入式传感器或生命和非生命系统混合体中的假肢装置。