Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
RSS FeedsEnergy and Data Storage in a Single Molecule
Category: Science & TechnologyPosted: July 16, 2012 08:54PM
Author: Guest_Jim_*
Two limiters of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are their size and reliance on batteries. Large components, like a full-size stick of DDR3 RAM, cannot fit within a smartphone, and they would pull far too much power from the laboratory. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University have found a way to use carbon-60 molecules to not only store information like RAM, but also store energy like a capacitor.
The carbon-60 molecules, which are also known as fullerenes or buckyballs, act as molecular memory transistors and capacitors. This combination should allow for much smaller memory modules to be made, because these transistors can be just 1 nm in size, while also using less power, as they store some internally.
The researchers' next step is to find a facility with the materials needed to manufacture this new memory technology. While the materials may have to be sought after, the technology needed for fabrication is apparently the standard in high-tech facilities, so we may see this enter consumer products before too long.
