Scientist Lee Seok Woo says scenes from the movie “Mission: Impossible” inspired his latest invention: a smart contact lens battery.
In the fourth film in the series, an agent wears contact lenses that enable facial recognition and eye tracking. Lee wanted this shot to be a reality.
“I was thinking, ‘How can I work in the field of smart contact lenses?'” an associate professor at Nanyang Technological University’s School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering told CNBC’s “The Edge.”
Li’s expertise in battery components was the starting point for his foray into wearable technology. He realized that smart contact lenses needed safe and compact batteries, which would be critical to advancing the development of these devices.
The contact lenses themselves are very thin, only 0.5 mm, so the size and flexibility of these cells are key to preventing user discomfort.
“Our battery is about 0.2 millimeters thick, which is about twice the thickness of a human hair,” Lee said.
Demonstrate how smart contact lenses fit into a human eye model.
Lauren Chu | CNBC
Li and his team created a battery that can be powered using a biocompatible salt solution as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries that contain flammable materials.
The new battery can be charged using traditional wire methods or chemical methods. The battery is coated with glucose, which when immersed in a salt solution reacts with sodium and chloride ions to charge it.
Scientists from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University have demonstrated how to charge batteries on smart contact lenses using traditional wire methods.
Lauren Chu | CNBC
After eight hours of chemical charging, the battery reaches 80% of its full capacity. It can then be used for a few hours during the day.
However, there is another unusual way to power a battery.
“Tears also contain glucose. This means that when you wear contact lenses, your tears can also recharge the battery,” Li said.
“If you cry more, you recharge your battery more.”
A scientist has demonstrated a working prototype of a smart contact lens with a microbattery.
Lauren Chu | CNBC
Currently, battery capacity and voltage are still very low. Using these two methods, the battery can only produce about 0.3V – 0.6V. The standard voltage of an AA battery is 1.5V.
At this stage, this output is not enough to power data storage or network connections, but the team is working hard to develop the battery’s specifications.
One potential partner that Lee has identified is in health care.
“We use glucose as biofuel. There are many diabetics who check their blood sugar levels every day,” Li said.
“We looked at how to detect blood sugar levels while the user is wearing contact lenses.”
Despite the potential of this innovation, Li believes the cost should be kept low given the battery’s capacity.
“Once it gets into very serious commercialization, the battery should cost only a few dollars.”
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