BEIJING - Chinese scientists have developed a nanogenerator that can power a cardiac pacemaker with electricity generated by a patient's breathing.

The nanogenerator system developed by the Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems includes an implantable nanogenerator and an energy conversion and storage device, according to an announcement Monday on the Chinese Academy of Sciences website.

The nanogenerator is 12 millimeters long, 12 millimeters wide and 0.7 millimeter thick.

The self-powered system harvests energy from breathing movements and stores the energy in the form of electricity to drive the pacemaker, according to the institute.

Pacemakers have long been limited by their lack of a long-term supply of electricity, as current implanted devices are mainly powered by batteries.

Once the batteries run out, patients face more surgery and heavy costs.

The Institute said the invention will break the bottleneck and greatly extend the service life of medical devices in the field.