Zhong Lin Wang and colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology said such a device could power implantable biomedical devices and other small electronics, as well as holding promise for biosensing, environmental monitoring and personal electronics.

The researchers said they have so far created a nanodevice that is able to generate electricity while immersed in biological fluids or other liquids, using ultrasonic waves as the energy source.

"It sets a solid foundation for self-powering implantable and wireless nanodevices and nanosystems in biofluid and any other type of liquid," Wang and colleagues said.

The research is reported in the Aug. 8 issue of the journal Nano Letters.