Transient electronics is an emerging technology with the remarkable ability to physically disappear on demand. Continued advances in this area are expected to transform temporary biomedical implants, environmentally friendly electronics, data-secure memory devices, and disposable consumer electronics.
A major challenge, however, is the development of transient electronic systems that include an integrated transient power source. Such a power source is essential for creating an all-transient system that can operate independently and self-sustainably. Despite the strong demand and broad promise of this field, research on transient power sources and transient energy-storage devices has remained limited.
Several transient power sources, including lithium-ion batteries and nanogenerators, have been proposed to degrade under external triggers such as light, temperature, pH, or special liquids. However, these systems do not maintain stable performance in a controllable way and still rely heavily on non-renewable and non-biodegradable heavy metals and polymers.
In this work, we report, for the first time, a bacteria-powered biobattery on dissolvable paper that can decompose in a controlled manner after stable operation.
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