Micro-scaled chemical oscillator networks - towards chemical computing

Abstract

A ‘chemical computer’ (CC) can be based on information processing by a non-linear oscillatory reaction. Some benefits of CC are the processing unit and memory share the same space and minimal power is needed for its operation. CC optimization requires miniaturization and synchronization of the chemical reactors. Therefore, we designed a diffusion driven micro-scaled network. It comprises a set of silicon-based micro-chemical reactors (MCRs) connected by nanofluidic channels. The MCRs contain reagents of the Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. The catalyst of the BZ reaction enables visualizing oscillations by fluorescence microscopy. Exploring different designs, results present a diffusion-related coupling and synchronization of MCRs.