Electricity-generating slime created by U of Guelph researchers for medical, energy uses

University of Guelph researchers have found a new way to use slime to generate electricity. CTV’s Spencer Turcotte tells us how it works.

University of Guelph (U of G) researchers have invented a slime-like material that generates electricity when squeezed or compressed, which has opened the door to a wide array of applications.

It looks like a mad science experiment, but it’s actually quite simple.

Erica Pensini, the lead researcher behind this high-tech silly putty of sorts, showed CTV News Kitchener on Friday how it’s made, and what it’s made of.

“Piezoelectric materials, in a nutshell, are materials that produce electricity when they are compressed,” said Pensini.

It is formed by three simple things – amino acid, fatty acid and water. When it’s mixed all together you get slime.

“There are a lot of these materials out there, but most of them were considered bio-compatible, but not really bio-based,” Pensini said.

The team of researchers found that when compressed, this truly bio-compatible slime produces electricity – or energy.

So what can they do with that? Apparently, a lot.

“I use the stuff on my hands. Ideally, this material can enhance healing in the body because piezoelectricity is an important component in many processes in the human body,” said Pensini.

Whether it’s speeding up the healing of dry hands, a cut, or even using it with a Band-Aid, when you compress the slime it increases the electric fields formed naturally in the body.

There is also an option for targeted drug delivery so medicine is released when the structure changes.

The team isn’t stopping there. They want to think big picture too.

“Imagine that you are on a mountain and then you want to charge your cell phone. Then you can have something that you squish and eventually, you produce enough electricity to charge your phone or you have something in your shoe so that as you walk, you charge a battery and that charges your phone,” said Pensini.

Material embedded in those uses would have to be slightly different than the ‘goo’ used for lotion.

But what starts as a simple slime, may actually improve our lives substantially.