Evolution of Electronic Circuits using Carbon Nanotube Composites

Massey, M.K.; Kotsialos, A.; Volpati, D.; Vissol-Gaudin, E.; Pearson, C.; Bowen, L.; Obara, B.; Zeze, D.A.; Groves, C.; Petty, M.C.

Abstract

Evolution-in-materio concerns the computer controlled manipulation of material systems using external stimuli to train or evolve the material to perform a useful function. In this paper we demonstrate the evolution of a disordered composite material, using voltages as the external stimuli, into a form where a simple computational problem can be solved. The material consists of single-walled carbon nanotubes suspended in liquid crystal; the nanotubes act as a conductive network, with the liquid crystal providing a host medium to allow the conductive network to reorganise when voltages are applied. We show that the application of electric fields under computer control results in a significant change in the material morphology, favouring the solution to a classification task.

Citation

Massey, M., Kotsialos, A., Volpati, D., Vissol-Gaudin, E., Pearson, C., Bowen, L., …Petty, M. (2016). Evolution of Electronic Circuits using Carbon Nanotube Composites. Scientific Reports, 6, Article 32197. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep32197

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 2, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Aug 25, 2016
• Publication Date: Aug 25, 2016
• Deposit Date: Aug 4, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 5, 2016
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Publisher: Nature Research
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Article Number: 32197
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep32197
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1399749