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Crying For Power? Your Tears Could Generate Electricity

Lysozyme, an enzyme found in human tears, egg whites, and other bodily fluids, has piezoelectric properties that allow it to generate electricity when pressure is applied. Researchers applied a crystalized form of lysozyme to films and found that it could generate as much electricity as quartz when mechanical force was applied. Due to its nontoxic nature, lysozyme could potentially be used to power biomedical implants or control drug delivery in the human body in the future, though more research is still needed.

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Gagan Singh Thenua
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50 views1 page

Crying For Power? Your Tears Could Generate Electricity

Lysozyme, an enzyme found in human tears, egg whites, and other bodily fluids, has piezoelectric properties that allow it to generate electricity when pressure is applied. Researchers applied a crystalized form of lysozyme to films and found that it could generate as much electricity as quartz when mechanical force was applied. Due to its nontoxic nature, lysozyme could potentially be used to power biomedical implants or control drug delivery in the human body in the future, though more research is still needed.

Uploaded by

Gagan Singh Thenua
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Crying for Power?

Your Tears Could


Generate Electricity

What do egg whites and human tears have in common? According to a new study from
Ireland, both materials can generate electricity, thanks to an enzyme they contain.
The enzyme, called lysozyme, is also found in saliva and mammalian milk, according to the
study, which was published Oct. 2 in the Journal of Applied Physics. The enzyme is anti-
bacterial; it attacks the cell walls of bacteria, weakening them.
When lysozyme is in a crystalized form, it also appears to have a property called
piezoelectricity, meaning the enzyme can convert mechanical energy (when pressure is
applied to it) into electrical energy, the researchers wrote. [7 Biggest Mysteries of the Human
Body]
Though the name may sound foreign, "piezoelectricity is used all around us," lead study
author Aimee Stapleton, a postgraduate fellow studying physics at the University of Limerick
in Ireland, said in statement. For example, piezoelectric materials such as quartz crystals are
used in mobile phones (as the vibrating component) and deep-ocean sonar, according to the
statement.

Indeed, materials such as bone, wood, tendons and proteins (including collagen and keratin)
have piezoelectric properties, according to the study.

But "the capacity to generate electricity from this particular protein [lysozyme] has not been
explored," Stapleton said.

To study the piezoelectric properties of lysozymes, the scientists applied a crystalized form of
the enzyme to films. Researchers then applied mechanical force to these films and recorded
the amount of electricity generated.

The scientists found that lysozyme could generate electricity just as well as quartz could. But
lysozyme is a biological material, so it could have medical applications. Lysozymes are
"nontoxic, so [they] could have many innovative applications, such as electroactive, anti-
microbial coatings for medical implants," Stapleton said.
The researchers think that, in the future, lysozymes could be used to power biomedical
devices that are used in people's bodies, the scientists wrote in the study. The enzymes could
also be used to power and control the release of drugs in the body, the study said.

More research is needed, however, before the enzyme can be used for these purposes, the
researchers said.

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