Can you tell me how many batteries you use in a year? A report from the University of Illinois reveals that Americans buy about 3 billion dry-cell batteries annually, which means that an average American ends up using nearly 10 batteries a year. Of course, this shouldn’t come as a surprise given that almost everything we use runs on batteries. What’s shocking is that out of these billions of batteries, about 2,500 end up in the stomachs of kids.

你能告诉我你一年用多少电池吗?伊利诺伊大学的一份报告显示，美国人每年购买约30亿块干电池，这意味着平均每个美国人每年使用近10块电池。当然，这并不奇怪，因为我们使用的几乎所有东西都是靠电池运行的。令人震惊的是，在这数十亿电池中，大约有2500个最终进入了孩子们的胃里。

A team of researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Milan recently created a fully rechargeable battery using nontoxic edible components. This is probably the world’s first battery that is safe to ingest and entirely made of food-grade materials. “Given the level of safety of these batteries, they could be used in children's toys, where there is a high risk of ingestion,” said Mario Caironi, a senior researcher at IIT. However, this isn’t the only solution the edible battery could provide.

位于米兰的意大利理工学院(IIT)的一组研究人员，最近使用无毒的可食用成分制造了一种完全可充电的电池。这可能是世界上第一个完全由食品级材料制成的可安全食用的电池。“考虑到这些电池的安全水平，它们可以用于儿童玩具——儿童误食的高发区，”IIT高级研究员马里奥·卡罗尼说。然而，这并不是可食用电池可以应用的唯一场景。

Edible battery solves many problems

可食用电池解决了很多问题

Apart from serving as an alternative to conventional toxic toy batteries, the edible battery from IIT could also play a key role in making health care applications safer than ever. For instance, doctors have to be cautious regarding the use of miniature electronic devices (such as drug-delivery robots, biosensors, etc.) inside the human body, as they come equipped with batteries made of toxic substances. An edible battery could solve this problem. There are also more mundane applications, like replacing batteries in pet toys.

除了作为传统有毒玩具电池的替代品外，IIT的可食用电池还可以在使医疗保健应用比以往任何时候都更安全方面发挥关键作用。例如，医生必须谨慎使用微型电子设备(如药物输送机器人，生物传感器等)。因为它们配备了由有毒物质制成的电池。可食用电池可以解决这个问题。还有一些更普通的应用，比如更换宠物玩具中的电池。