Mann Abigail K, Tonkin Samuel J, Sharma Pankaj, Gibson Christopher T, Chalker Justin M
Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, 5042, Australia.
College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, 5042, Australia.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2025 Feb;12(5):e2409438. doi: 10.1002/advs.202409438. Epub 2024 Dec 16.
Big data and artificial intelligence are driving increasing demand for high-density data storage. Probe-based data storage, such as mechanical storage using an atomic force microscope tip, is a potential solution with storage densities exceeding hard disks. However, the storage medium must be modifiable on the nanoscale. While polymers are promising storage media, they face challenges with synthesis, erasing temperatures, and stability. Here, a low-cost and robust polymer system is reported that allows repeated writing, reading and erasing. The polymer is made by inverse vulcanization, providing a network of S─S bonds that can be broken and re-formed repeatedly. This property is leveraged in mechanical indentation to encode information, and thermal S─S metathesis and polymer re-flow to erase. Exquisite control of indentation depth is possible over 1-30 nm. This control enables data encoding not just as a function of the presence or absence of an indent, but also indentation depth. This ternary coding increases the data density four-fold over binary coding. Furthermore, the coding can be done at room temperature which is rare for mechanical information storage. The low cost, ease of synthesis, and dynamic S─S bonds in these polymers are a promising advance in polymer storage media for probe-based data storage.
大数据和人工智能推动了对高密度数据存储的需求不断增长。基于探针的数据存储，例如使用原子力显微镜尖端的机械存储，是一种潜在的解决方案，其存储密度超过硬盘。然而，存储介质必须在纳米尺度上是可修改的。虽然聚合物是很有前景的存储介质，但它们在合成、擦除温度和稳定性方面面临挑战。在此，报道了一种低成本且坚固的聚合物系统，该系统允许重复写入、读取和擦除。这种聚合物通过反向硫化制成，提供了一个可以反复断裂和重新形成的S-S键网络。利用这一特性，通过机械压痕来编码信息，并通过热S-S复分解和聚合物再流动来擦除信息。在1至30纳米的范围内可以精确控制压痕深度。这种控制不仅能够根据压痕的有无来编码数据，还能根据压痕深度来编码数据。这种三元编码比二元编码的数据密度提高了四倍。此外，编码可以在室温下进行，这对于机械信息存储来说是很少见的。这些聚合物的低成本、易于合成以及动态的S-S键，是基于探针的数据存储用聚合物存储介质方面一项很有前景的进展。
