MELBOURNE, Oct. 10– Scientists in Australia have developed a coin-sized fluid-based chip that behaves like neural pathways of the brain, potentially heralding a new generation of computers.
The chip channels ions through tiny pathways in a specially designed metal-organic framework (MOF), mimicking the on/off switching of electronic transistors in computers, according to a statement released Friday by Australia’s Monash University, which led the study.
But unlike conventional computer chips, it can also “remember” previous signals, mimicking the plasticity of neurons in the brain, it said. “For the first time, we’ve observed saturation nonlinear conduction of protons in a nanofluidic device.
This opens up new opportunities for designing iontronic systems with memory and even learning capabilities,” said study co-lead author Professor Wang Huanting, deputy director of the Monash Center for Membrane Innovation.
“If we can engineer functional materials like MOFs just a few nanometers thick, we could create advanced fluidic chips that complement or even overcome some limitations of today’s electronic chips,” Wang said, highlighting the potential of engineered nanoporous materials for next-generation devices.
The team demonstrated the chip’s potential by building a small fluid circuit with multiple MOF channels, according to the study published in Science Advances.
The chip’s response to voltage changes mimicked the behavior of electronic transistors, while also showing memory effects that could one day be used in liquid-based data storage or brain-inspired computing systems, it said.
The development was the first-of-a-kind and a major step towards computers that think more like humans, using liquid instead of solid circuits, said study co-lead author Lu Jun from the Monash Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.
“Our chip can selectively control the flow of protons and metal ions, and it remembers previous voltage changes, giving it a form of short-term memory,” said Lu, who is now a visiting scholar at the University of California in the United States.
The chip’s unique hierarchical structure allows it to control protons and metal ions in entirely different ways, a previously unseen feature in nano fluidics, Lu said. (Xinhua)
