We aren’t big fans of the word moist, nor the objects it always describes. But when you call it mushy, slap some storage capabilities into it and develop it in a North Carolina State University lab — well, then we’re all smiles. That is exactly what researchers on the school have accomplished with their “comparable to the human brain” memory device (mmmm… brains). Called memristors , these biocompatible electronics are perfect for harsh, wet environments that other wussier tech dare not tread. Ripe with the wobbly “properties of Jell-O,” the squishy water-based gel houses gallium and iridium alloys that adjust between on / off electrically conductive and resistive states — that’s 0 and 1, respectively. Capacity for the gelatinous invention isn’t yet optimized for significant real-world use, but you may bet this thing’ll be making its way into Krang’s exo-suit anyday now. Bill Cosby approved PR after the break.
Release Date: 07.14.2011
Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a memory device that’s soft and functions well in wet environments – opening the door to a brand new generation of biocompatible electronic devices.
“We’ve created a memory device with the physical properties of Jell-O,” says Dr. Michael Dickey, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the research.
Researchers have created a memory device with the physical properties of Jell-O, and that functions well in wet environments.
Conventional electronics are usually made from rigid, brittle materials and do not function well in a wet environment. “Our memory device is soft and pliable, and functions extremely well in wet environments – a dead ringer for the human brain,” Dickey says.
Prototypes of the device haven’t yet been optimized to carry a great deal of memory, but work well in environments that might be hostile to standard electronics. The devices are made using a liquid alloy of gallium and indium metals set into water-based gels, just like gels utilized in biological research.
The device’s ability to operate in wet environments, and the biocompatibility of the gels, mean that this technology holds promise for interfacing electronics with biological systems – consisting of cells, enzymes or tissue. “These properties can be utilized for biological sensors or for medical monitoring,” Dickey says.
The device functions very like so-called “memristors,” that are vaunted as a likely next-generation memory technology. The person components of the “mushy” memory device have two states: one which conducts electricity and one which doesn’t. These two states may be used to symbolize the 1s and 0s utilized in binary language. Most traditional electronics use electrons to create these 1s and 0s in computer chips. The mushy memory device uses charged molecules called ions to do an identical thing.
In all the memory device’s circuits, the metal alloy is the circuit’s electrode and sits on both sides of a conductive piece of gel. When the alloy electrode is exposed to a favorable charge it creates an oxidized skin that makes it resistive to electricity. We’ll call that the 0. When the electrode is exposed to a negative charge, the oxidized skin disappears, and it becomes conducive to electricity. We’ll call that the 1.
Normally, whenever a negative charge is applied to 1 side of the electrode, the positive charge would move to the opposite side and create another oxidized skin – meaning the electrode would always be resistive. To resolve that problem, the researchers “doped” one side of the gel slab with a polymer that stops the formation of a stable oxidized skin. That way one electrode is usually conducive – giving the device the 1s and 0s it needs for electronic memory.
The paper, “Towards All-Soft Matter Circuits: Prototypes of Quasi-Liquid Devices with Memristor Characteristics,” was published online July 4 by Advanced Materials. The paper was co-authored by NC State Ph.D. students Hyung-Jun Koo and Ju-Hee So, and NC State INVISTA Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Orlin Velev. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy.
NC State’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering is a part of the university’s College of Engineering.
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