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A Groundbreaking Polymer Opens Up the Future of Data Storage
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Posted by Okachinepa on 12/25/2024 @


Courtesy of SynEvol
Credit: Flinders University
An innovative high-density data storage material provides a more effective and environmentally friendly substitute for flash memory, solid-state drives, and conventional hard drives.
More data can be stored on this inexpensive polymer than on traditional hard disk drives because it forms nanoscale patterns that resemble small "dents."
The polymer, created by the Chalker Lab at Flinders University, can be reused several times and has the ability to have its data wiped in a matter of seconds using short heat bursts.
First author and PhD candidate Abigail Mann of Flinders University's College of Science and Engineering says, "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."
Utilizing an atomic force microscope and a scanning probe device, the researchers created and interpreted the indentations, which were made from inexpensive materials, sulfur, and dicyclopentadiene.
The breakthrough, according to senior author Professor Justin Chalker, is the most recent illustration of new-era polymers that have the potential to impact a variety of industries.
Professor Chalker claims that the need for data storage solutions is growing as a result of the big data and artificial intelligence era.
"The information era's ever expanding computing and data storage demands call for new solutions.
"As flash memory, solid-state drives, and hard disk drives are limited by data density limits—the amount of information they can store in a specific area or volume—alternatives are being sought after."
The Flinders University polymer chemistry team used the technique to show data storage densities higher than those of standard hard disk drives.
The ability to write, read, and erase data repeatedly was made possible by the polymer chemistry approach, which is crucial for computers and data storage.
Computer behemoths like IBM, LG Electronics, and Intel have already investigated the idea of storing data as indents on the surface of materials. The energy requirements, prices, and complexity of the data storage materials are some of the obstacles to commercializing the technology, even though this mechanical data storage technique produced some extremely promising storage demonstrations and breakthroughs.
The Flinders polymer, according to senior researchers Drs. Pankaj Sharma and Christopher Gibson, has a special physical structure that enables mechanical force to encode the data via an indentation, and a chemical structure that enables quick reorganization of the polymer upon heating to remove that indent.
Samuel Tonkin, a PhD candidate at Chalker Lab, adds, "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."
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