Ultrafast flexible, transparent memory devices developed

London: Scientists have developed the quickest, smallest, highest-capacity memory device that could pave the way for the next generation of flexible and transparent electronics.

The new memory devices may also have the potential to offer a cheaper and more adaptable alternative to 'flash memory', which is currently used in many common devices such as memory cards, graphics cards and USB computer drives, said researchers from University of Exeter in the UK.

Researchers said that these innovative new devices have the potential to revolutionise not only how data is stored, but also take flexible electronics to a new age in terms of speed, efficiency and power.

"Using graphene oxide to produce memory devices has been reported before, but they were typically very large, slow, and aimed at the 'cheap and cheerful' end of the electronics goods market," said Professor David Wright of University of Exeter.

"Our hybrid graphene oxide-titanium oxide memory is, in contrast, just 50 nanometres long and 8 nanometres thick and can be written to and read from in less than five nanoseconds?with one nanometre being one billionth of a metre and one nanosecond a billionth of a second," Wright said.

The study was published in the journal ACS Nano.