The researchers, led by Qunliang Song at Southwest
"As a promising alternative to the conventional silicon-based nonvolatile memory, the egg albumen has more advantages than other materials," Song told Phys.org. "The bio-organic material egg albumen may have potential applications in the imitation of biological memory behavior, artificial intelligence, and brain-like intelligence because of the good compatibility."
This is not the first time that egg albumen has been incorporated into electronic devices. Previously, the albumen from chicken and duck eggs has been used in transistors and other devices as the dielectric (insulating) layer.
However, the new work marks the first time that egg albumen has been used to make resistive memories. These memories are being developed as a next-generation alternative to the silicon-based memories that dominate today's electronics. Resistive memories, which operate based on changes in resistance rather than electric current, have potential advantages such as higher speeds, higher densities, and smaller sizes.
One of the main components of resistive memories is a dielectric film—here, the egg albumen-based film—which is normally insulating but can be made conducting by applying a voltage. Switching between these states of high and low electrical resistance corresponds to switching between the memory's "off" and "on" states, respectively.
The researchers demonstrated that the resistance of egg albumen material can be made switchable by mixing it with a 10% hydrogen peroxide solution. Egg albumen contains more than 40 different proteins that are linked together by weak chemical bonds. Deep inside these proteins are large numbers of iron, sodium, and potassium ions. The hydrogen peroxide easily breaks the bonds holding the proteins together, which denatures the proteins and, critically, exposes the ions.
These ions, which are positively charged, then act as traps that capture negatively charged electrons that are injected when a voltage is applied. When the trap levels are low (few or no electrons), the dielectric material behaves as an insulator and the memory is in the "off" state. When a negative voltage is applied, it causes the traps to fill with electrons, the material becomes conducting, and the memory switches to its "on" state. To reset the memory, a positive voltage is applied, releasing the electrons from the traps and returning the memory to its "off" state.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-egg-based-electronics-surprisingly-good-electrical.html#jCp
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