An Electrocatalytic Reaction As a Basis for Chemical Computing in Water Droplets

Aqueous droplets covered with amphiphilic Janus Au/Fe3O4 nanoparticles and suspended in an organic phase serve as building blocks of droplet-based electronic circuitry. The electrocatalytic activity of these nanoparticles in a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) underlies the droplet's ability to rectify currents with typical rectification ratios of similar to 10. In effect, individual droplets act as low-frequency half-wave rectifiers, whereas several appropriately wired droplets enable full-wave rectification. When the HER-supporting droplets are combined with salt-containing resistor ones, the resulting ensembles can act as AND or OR gates or as inverters.

Automated summary

Using amphiphilic Janus Au/Fe3O4 nanoparticles covered aqueous droplets suspended in an organic phase as building blocks, the droplet-based electronic circuitry displays rectification ability and can function as AND or OR gates or inversors when combined with salt-containing resistor droplets.