Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia are exploring the use of solar panels implanted in the eyeballs to replace damaged photoreceptor cells.
This neuroprosthetic technology is similar in principle to cochlear implants, which convert sound signals into electrical signals to directly stimulate the auditory nerves of patients with severe hearing loss.
Some diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, can cause the photoreceptors in the eyes to degenerate, leading to vision loss or even vision loss. The medical community has long believed that biomedical implants in the retina could be used to replace damaged cells of this type .
Previous academic research has mainly focused on electrode implantation, but this solution requires inserting wires into the eyes, which is a relatively complicated process.
University of New South Wales researcher Udo Römer is considering using micro solar panels instead of electrodes to achieve self-powering for the device . In terms of specific materials, it used non-silicon-based gallium arsenide (IT House Note: GaAs) and indium gallium phosphide (GaInP) in its research.
Compared with silicon-based solar panels, gallium arsenide and indium gallium phosphide can achieve more efficient energy conversion and make it easier to adjust material properties.
Romer said that current research shows that neurons cannot be stimulated by the voltage of a single solar panel , so multiple panels need to be stacked, which is quite difficult with traditional silicon-based materials.
This research is still in the proof-of-concept stage and has successfully achieved a 1cm 2 double-layer solar panel stack. The next step is to etch and divide the overall solar panel into independent “pixels”. In the future, it will be tested in laboratories and animal models before human experiments. Extensive testing was conducted to achieve an overall area of 2mm2 and a pixel size of 50 microns .
Romer emphasized that this technology is still a long way from being truly applied , and even if it is finally realized, it may require auxiliary equipment to achieve stable stimulation of neurons.
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