According to Sci Tech Daily, scientists were able to make this cell produce 43 microwatts of energy per square centimeter, which makes it the most efficient glucose fuel cell to date.

Another advantage of this new cell is the fact that it can withstand temperatures of up to 600 degrees Celsius and if it is incorporated into a medical implant, this would allow the cell to successfully go through the high-temperature sterilization process.

The core of the cell is made of ceramic, which allows it to retain its electrochemical properties even at high temperatures and at a very small scale.

The researchers claim that it is possible that the new device could be integrated into a film that could be wrapped around an implant, and by using the power of glucose, the implant can be powered through the cell.

Philipp Simons, who developed the design as part of his PhD thesis in MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), said that "glucose is everywhere in the body, and the idea is to harvest this readily available energy and use it to power implantable devices. In our work, we show a new glucose fuel cell electrochemistry."

Jennifer L.M. Rupp, Simons’ thesis supervisor and a DMSE visiting professor, added that "instead of using a battery, which can take up 90 percent of an implant’s volume, you could make a device with a thin film, and you’d have a power source with no volumetric footprint."

Initially presented in the 1960s, glucose fuel cells were thought to have a great energy potential by converting glucose into energy, but at that time, these cells were based on soft polymers and were held back by the lithium-iodide batteries.

Batteries, however, are limited with regards to how small they can be made, which proved to be the be a challenge when it came to integrating these devices into electronic implants.

"Fuel cells directly convert energy rather than storing it in a device, so you don’t need all that volume that’s required to store energy in a battery," Rupp says.

A glucose fuel cell is made of three layers, the first one being the anode, followed by an electrolyte and at the bottom, a cathode.

The anode is the layer that interacts with glucose in body fluids, transforming the sugar into gluconic acid, and through the conversion, a pair of protons and a pair of electrons are being released.

The electrolyte will then separate the protons from the electrons, conducting the protons through the fuel cells outside the body.

The electrons are being isolated and they flow in an external circuit, where they are being used to power an electronic device.

The researchers have developed a fuel cell that has an electrolyte layer made of ceria, a ceramic material that has high ion conductivity and is also robust, which is popular as an electrolyte in hydrogen fuel cells.

"Ceria is actively studied in the cancer research community. It’s also similar to zirconia, which is used in tooth implants, and is biocompatible and safe", Simons mentions.

The scientists at the MIT and the TUM made 150 glucose fuel cells and put them on a chip to test their efficiency, and they noted that many of these cells were able to produce 80 millivolts of power, which given their size of 400 nanometers in thickness and 300 micrometers in width, it means that they are the most efficient glucose fuel cells so far.

“Excitingly, we are able to draw power and current that’s sufficient to power implantable devices”, Simons explained.