Could polymeric materials create the next paradigm shift in computing?
Assistant Professor Ghislaine Vantomme received a NWO M-grant last month to take the first step in translating this vision into reality. In her project, she is taking on the challenge to make new materials that can conduct electrical signals while at the same time storing memory in their structures depending on the electric signals they receive.
Vantomme is going to deploy her experience with supramolecular materials to create a new polymeric material that is adaptive and therefore can strengthen on-demand certain conductive paths and weaken others. Just like the human brain does in neural network. Even though today’s computers have demonstrated high-performance, the human brain is a lot faster and more efficient than a computer. In a world where big datacenters consume an enormous amount of energy, efficiency and therefore energy saving is a significant gain.
The project ‘Adaptive materials for brain-inspired computing’ encompasses synthesis of the molecules, the characterization of their assembled states and how to grow them into artificial neural networks. More information