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A new polymer can store data in nanoscale indents, offering higher storage density and better sustainability by being quickly erasable and reusable. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
Researchers at Flinders University have developed a low-cost, high-density polymer that can store data efficiently using nanoscale indents and can be erased and reused multiple times.
This innovative material, made from sulfur and dicyclopentadiene, promises greater storage capacities compared to traditional storage devices, and its ability to be quickly recycled offers a sustainable alternative for the future of data storage.
Innovative Data Storage Material
A groundbreaking material for high-density data storage offers a more efficient and sustainable alternative to traditional hard drives, solid-state drives, and flash memory.
This low-cost polymer stores data as tiny “dents,” forming nanoscale patterns that hold more information than conventional hard disk drives.
Developed by the Chalker Lab at Flinders University, the polymer can have its data erased in seconds using brief heat bursts and can be reused multiple times. The innovation is featured in the esteemed journal Advanced Science.
Sustainable and Efficient Data Storage Solutions
“This research unlocks the potential for using simple, renewable polysulfides in probe-based mechanical data storage, offering a potential lower-energy, higher density and more sustainable alternative to current technologies,” says first author and PhD candidate Abigail Mann, from the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University.
Made from low-cost materials, sulfur, and dicyclopentadiene, the researchers used an atomic force microscope and a scanning probe instrument to make and read the indentations.
Senior author Professor Justin Chalker says the development is the latest example of new era polymers capable of making a difference to a wide range of industries.
(From top left, clockwise): Flinders University Professor of Chemistry Justin Chalker, Abigail Mann, the raw materials used in the new polymer, Samuel Tonkin, Dr. Christopher Gibson, and Dr. Pankaj Sharma, from the Flinders University Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology. Credit: Flinders University
High Density and Reusable Data Storage Technology
“The age of big data and artificial intelligence is increasingly driving demand for data storage solutions,” says Professor Chalker.
“New solutions are needed for the ever-growing computing and data storage needs of the information era.
“Alternatives are being sought to hard disk drives, solid-state drives, and flash memory which are constrained by data density limits – or the amount of information they can store in a particular area or volume.”
Using the method, the polymer chemistry team at Flinders University demonstrated data storage densities that exceed typical hard disk drives.
Advancing Mechanical Data Storage
The polymer chemistry method allowed for the data writing, reading and erasing to be repeated many times, which is important in computing and data storage.
The concept of storing data as indents on the surface of materials has been explored previously by computing giants such as IBM, LG Electronics and Intel. While this mechanical data storage strategy provided some very promising demonstrations and innovations in storage, the energy requirements, costs, and complexities of the data storage materials are some of the barriers to commercializing the technology.
Senior researchers Dr. Pankaj Sharma and Dr. Christopher Gibson say the Flinders polymer addresses these challenges with its unique physical structure that allows mechanical force to encode the data via an indentation, and a chemical structure that allows rapid reorganization of the polymer upon heating to erase that indent.
“The low cost of the building blocks (sulfur and dicyclopentadiene) is an attractive feature that can support future development of the polymer in data storage applications,” adds Chalker Lab PhD candidate Samuel Tonkin.
Reference: “Probe-Based Mechanical Data Storage on Polymers Made by Inverse Vulcanization” by Abigail K. Mann, Samuel J. Tonkin, Pankaj Sharma, Christopher T. Gibson and Justin M. Chalker, 16 December 2024, Advanced Science.
DOI: 10.1002/advs.202409438
Acknowledgments: The project was directed and supervised by Dr. Pankaj Sharma, Dr. Christopher Gibson, and Professor Justin Chalker. Financial support for this research was provided by the Australian Research Council (DP200100090, DP230100587, and FT220100054). Key technical support and instrumentation essential for this research was provided by Flinders Microscopy and Microanalysis (FMMA), Adelaide Microscopy, and the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF).
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