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Infochemistry and infofuses for the chemical storage and transmission of coded information.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Thomas, SW; Chiechi, RC; LaFratta, CN; Webb, MR; Lee, A; Wiley, BJ; Zakin, MR; Walt, DR; Whitesides, GM
Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
June 2009

This article describes a self-powered system that uses chemical reactions--the thermal excitation of alkali metals--to transmit coded alphanumeric information. The transmitter (an "infofuse") is a strip of the flammable polymer nitrocellulose patterned with alkali metal ions; this pattern encodes the information. The wavelengths of 2 consecutive pulses of light represent each alphanumeric character. While burning, infofuses transmit a sequence of pulses (at 5-20 Hz) of atomic emission that correspond to the sequence of metallic salts (and therefore to the encoded information). This system combines information technology and chemical reactions into a new area--"infochemistry"--that is the first step toward systems that combine sensing and transduction of chemical signals with multicolor transmission of alphanumeric information.

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Published In

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI

EISSN

1091-6490

ISSN

0027-8424

Publication Date

June 2009

Volume

106

Issue

23

Start / End Page

9147 / 9150

Related Subject Headings

  • Spectrum Analysis
  • Metals, Alkali
  • Information Storage and Retrieval
  • Energy-Generating Resources
  • DNA
  • Collodion
 

Citation

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Thomas, S. W., Chiechi, R. C., LaFratta, C. N., Webb, M. R., Lee, A., Wiley, B. J., … Whitesides, G. M. (2009). Infochemistry and infofuses for the chemical storage and transmission of coded information. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(23), 9147–9150. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0902476106
Thomas, Samuel W., Ryan C. Chiechi, Christopher N. LaFratta, Michael R. Webb, Andrew Lee, Benjamin J. Wiley, Mitchell R. Zakin, David R. Walt, and George M. Whitesides. “Infochemistry and infofuses for the chemical storage and transmission of coded information.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106, no. 23 (June 2009): 9147–50. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0902476106.
Thomas SW, Chiechi RC, LaFratta CN, Webb MR, Lee A, Wiley BJ, et al. Infochemistry and infofuses for the chemical storage and transmission of coded information. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2009 Jun;106(23):9147–50.
Thomas, Samuel W., et al. “Infochemistry and infofuses for the chemical storage and transmission of coded information.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 106, no. 23, June 2009, pp. 9147–50. Epmc, doi:10.1073/pnas.0902476106.
Thomas SW, Chiechi RC, LaFratta CN, Webb MR, Lee A, Wiley BJ, Zakin MR, Walt DR, Whitesides GM. Infochemistry and infofuses for the chemical storage and transmission of coded information. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2009 Jun;106(23):9147–9150.
Journal cover image

Published In

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI

EISSN

1091-6490

ISSN

0027-8424

Publication Date

June 2009

Volume

106

Issue

23

Start / End Page

9147 / 9150

Related Subject Headings

  • Spectrum Analysis
  • Metals, Alkali
  • Information Storage and Retrieval
  • Energy-Generating Resources
  • DNA
  • Collodion