Cry for power, save money: Irish scientists can generate electricity from tears

Ever rising electricity bills making you cry? Well, cry more since it may save you some money now.

Scientists in Ireland have revealed that they can produce electricity from tears. It is not just tears but other human fluids such as milk and saliva as well which can be used to generate electricity.

SCIENCE BEHIND IT

The latest breakthrough could one day be used to control the release of drugs in the body using devices capable of taking energy from their surrounding.

This technology also aims at replacing current biomedical machines which contain lead and other toxic chemicals.

The study, published in the journal Applied Physics Letters and conducted by researchers from the Institute of Bernal at the University of Limerick, outlines how the team applied pressure to crystals of lysozyme, a protein found in egg whites and human fluids.

EXPERIMENTS

The experiments threw light upon evidence of 'piezoelectricity', a process in which an electrical charge is sparked in response to the application of mechanical stress.

"The extent of the piezoelectricity in lysozyme crystals is significant," Aimee Stapleton, the lead author and Postgraduate Fellow in the Department of Physics and Bernal Institute of UL said.

"It is a biological material, it is non-toxic so it could have many innovative applications such as electroactive anti-microbial coatings for medical implants."

"Crystals of lysozyme are easy to make from natural sources," she added.

LYSOZYME

Lysozyme was first investigated by Scottish pharmacologist Alexander Fleming as a potential antibiotic candidate before the discovery of penicillin.

In 1965, it became one of the first proteins to be mapped in 3D.

Professor Tewfik Soulimane, the co-author of the report, said that while the protein's properties have been known for decades, the team's experiments represent the first time it has shown signs of piezoelectricity.