Producing electricity with snails

A snail's blood sugar is used to generate electricity for special electrodes in its body. The meaning of this discovery is that one day our bodies will also make electricity.

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Evgeny Katz, a Clarkson University professor of chemistry in the US, and colleagues use Bucky paper - a conductive material made of carbon nanotubes - to make microelectrodes. With the effect of certain enzymes, electrodes can generate electricity using glucose and oxygen in snail blood, Innovation News Daily reports.

The team then implanted electrodes into the snail's body. In the presence of electrodes, snails can crawl everywhere and live normally and still produce electricity.

The team used two clamps to measure the amount
electricity that a snail produces. (Photo: Innovation News Daily)

"Our snail survived a few months after we implanted the electrode in its body. During that time it performed all acts like crawling, eating, drinking," Katz said.

The amount of electricity produced by the snail is much smaller than an AAA battery, but Katz's group hopes to increase electricity output in upcoming tests.

"In the future, fuel cells can work inside small animals like insects, snails, worms to power sensors and signaling devices," Professor Katz commented.

This is the first time scientists have demonstrated that living animals can produce electricity sustainably for several months. If snails can produce enough electricity to run tiny electronic devices, they can carry sensors and detectors to prevent terrorist plots. Thus, snails are both living batteries and "ears" and "eyes" of security forces.

The US Department of Defense recently funded a study to produce electricity from the cockroach's wing movement. The disadvantage of this method is that the electricity production process will be interrupted if the cockroach stops beating its wings. In contrast, fuel cells in animal bodies are capable of producing electricity continuously when animals are alive.

"One day, fuel cells using glucose will power devices that are implanted in humans," Katz said.