Northwestern University researchers have created a novel nanomaterial that can reconfigure itself based on changing computational requirements. The electronic material, which can guide electrical currents, paves the way to the development of a reconfigurable computer that can rearrange its internal wiring to fulfill various computational requirements.
By applying electrical pulses to the new nanomaterial, a sea of small negatively charged ions (blue) can be pushed and pulled between larger, positively charged nanoparticles (red) which are “jammed” in place. The regions of high and low ionic concentration allow for the material to become either more or less conductive in those areas. By controlling how the ions are distributed, one can control how current flows between electrodes.
The leader of the research team, Bartosz A. Grzybowski stated that the team’s steering technology enabled it to guide the flow of an electric current via a part of continuous material. Electron streams can be guided in numerous directions through a material block, and also numerous oppositely flowing streams can be steered at the same time, he said.
The research team has developed a new class of electronic materials called nanoparticle-based electronics by integrating a number of features of polymer- and silicon-based electronics. David A. Walker, a graduate student in the research team, stated that the novel material’s reversible properties can make a computer to reconfigure its own circuitry based on the need at a particular moment. i.e., a single device can be reconfigured itself into a transistor, diode, rectifier and resistor depending on the computer’s signals.
The hybrid material comprises electrically-conductive naonparticles coated with a chemical having a special positive charge. A flood of negatively-charged atoms surrounds the particles to nullify their positive charges. When an electrical charge is applied along the material, the smaller negatively-charged atoms can be positioned and rearranged, but the comparatively larger positively-charged nanoparticles are immovable.
The movement of negatively-charged atoms across the material alters the regions of high and low conductance to form a directed path, which in turn makes electrons to pass through the hybrid material. Pushing and pulling of the large number of negative atoms results in erasing of old paths and creation of new paths. The use of multiple forms of nanoparticles can produce more intricate electrical components such as transistors and diodes.