Silver nanoparticles as batteries

Dr. Esther Takeuchi was a key developer in the lithium/silver vanadium oxide battery that are currently used in the implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) that are placed in over 300,000 patients every year. The current battery lasts around 5-7 years and then must be replaced and Dr. Takeuchi decided that there must be a better design that will net a longer lifetime and higher current. Her team of her, her husband Dr. Kenneth Takeuchi and Dr. Amy Marschilok explored ways of fine tuning bimetallic materials at the subatomic level.
They have created a material that is 15,000 times more conductive upon initial battery use due to silver nanoparticles. Takeuchi who is very enthusiastic about her work made this quote, "We may be heading toward a time when we can make batteries so tiny that they -- and the devices they power -- can simply be injected into the body."
The batteries are still in a testing phase where the team is trying to boost the stability of the battery and then are tested in ovens that mimic the human body temperature.
The batteries are hopefully going to be able to treat a variety of diseases not just in the heart, but in the brain, such as strokes or even obesity.

I chose this article because in class we were discussing these types of devices and were debating if the battery could be implanted into the patient and with Takeuchi's work it may be possible.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/178894.php