Learning in colloids: Synapse-like ZnO + DMSO colloid

TL;DR

This paper explores how ZnO nanoparticle colloids in DMSO can learn and memorize through electrical stimuli, revealing relationships between resistance, voltage, and stimulation time, with implications for colloid-based computing.

Contribution

It demonstrates the ability of colloidal ZnO-DMSO systems to exhibit learning and memory behaviors, detailing how electrical parameters influence conductive network formation.

Findings

Critical resistance relates to stimulation time.

Critical voltage decreases with increased stimulation time.

Colloids can potentially be used for information storage.

Abstract

Colloids submitted to electrical stimuli exhibit a reconfiguration that could be used to store information and, potentially, compute. We investigated learnign, memorization, and time and stimulation's voltage dependence of conductive network formation in a colloidal suspension of ZnO nanoparticles in DMSO. Relations between critical resistance and stimulation time were reconstructed. The critical voltage, i.e. the stimulation voltage necessary for dropping the resistance, was shown to decrease in response to an increase in stimulation time.