BIOFLUID-

POWERED
BATTERIES
Seminar Report 2008-2009

Presented by
ADARSH M ALEX
Electrical & Electronics
VII Semester
Roll No : 7303
BIOFLUID-POWERED
BATTERIES
 Human body is the biggest natural
miracle machine and different types
of bio fluids like gas breathed out
(i.e., carbon dioxide), night soil/stool
and urine are major wastes
byproducts of this machine. Today
we can discuss about the paper
battery that generates electricity
from urine.
 Fabrication
In this battery, a
magnesium (Mg) layer and
copper chloride (CuCl) in
the filter paper are used as
the anode and the cathode,
respectively. A stack
consisting of a Mg layer,
CuCl-doped filter paper and
a copper (Cu) layer
sandwiched between two
plastic layers is laminated
into the paper batteries by
passing through the
heating roller at 120 °C.
 Dimensions
The battery is just 1
millimeter thick and 60 by 30
mm across – slightly smaller than
a credit card.
 How does it work?
• Urine contains many
ions (electrically
charged atoms),
which allows
electricity-producing
chemical reaction to
take place in the
urine battery. When
a drop of urine is
added to the paper
through a slit in the
plastic, a chemical
reaction takes place
that produces
How much does this rate in
performance?
The urine-
powered battery was able
to generate a voltage of
about 1.5 volts – with a
corresponding power of
1.5 micro-watts – using
just 0.2 milliliters of
urine.
And if a second
droplet of urine was
added 15 hours after the
battery was first
activated, the
replenished urine could
 A Big Leap !!!
Recently, scientists
successfully demonstrated batteries
in series (half credit-card size) that
power two LEDs and a electrical
driving circuits. The half credit card-
sized paper battery supply 3 volts for
the circuit to switch LEDs on and off.
An Experimental
Truth
 Application

The test kit consists of a urine-activated

battery, biosensors for disease detection, electric circuits
(not shown in the above figure), and a display for showing
test results. Introduced urine activates the battery and
then the electricity from the battery powers the others. If
somebody need a checkup, they could purchase a
healthcare test kit from a pharmacy and do the test. These
fully-integrated biochip systems have a huge market
potential.
 Biofluid-activated battery and
biosensors are integrated into disposable
credit card-sized biochips for healthcare
diagnostic applications.
 Conclusion
Though nature makes best
use of these bio-fluid by-products,
but scientists are always keen in
making this type of technological use
of these products.
 Reference

 Electronics For You Magazine.

  http://www.kblab.biz