Jain-Woo Han and Maya Mayan at the Centre for Nanotechnology at NASA Ames Research Centre have developed a flexible memory fabric woven together from interlocking strands of copper and copper-oxide wires.
At each juncture (stitch) along the fabric, a nanoscale application of platinum is placed between the fibres and this sandwich structure at each crossing forms a resistive memory circuit.
As described in AIP Advances, the copper-oxide fibres serve as the storage medium because they are able to change from an insulator to a conductor by applying a voltage.
The copper wires and the platinum layers serve as the bottom and top electrodes, respectively.
This design is said to easily lend itself to textiles because it naturally forms a crossbar memory structure where the fibres intersect.
The researchers developed a reversible, rewritable memory system that was able to retain information for more than 100 days.
In this proof-of-concept design, the copper wires were 1mm thick, although smaller-diameter wire would allow for an increase in memory density and a reduction in weight.
In practical applications, e-textiles would need to integrate a battery or power generator, sensors and a computational element, as well as a memory structure.
Taken together, an e-textile could potentially detect biomarkers for various diseases, monitor vital signs in the elderly or individuals in hostile environments and then transmit that information to doctors.
Five ways to prepare for your first day
If I may add my own personal Tip No. 6 it goes something like this: From time to time a more senior member of staff will start explaining something...