Researchers have unveiled an electronic circuit that can melt on demand, rendering itself useless.
They say the technology could be used in mobile phones and credit cards as anti-theft devices.
If stolen, the user could simply send a command to their handset to cause it to self destruct.
‘You don’t expect your cell phone to dissolve someday, right?” said Reza Montazami, an Iowa State University assistant professor of mechanical engineering.
‘The resistors, capacitors and electronics, you don’t expect everything to dissolve in such a manner that there’s no trace of it.’
Montazami believes his ‘transient materials’ could make it a reality.
‘A medical device, once its job is done, could harmlessly melt away inside a person’s body,’ the researchers say.
The materials are special polymers designed to quickly and completely melt away when a trigger is activated.
The team has already built and tested a degradable antenna capable of data transmission, and presented some of its research results at the recent meeting of the American Chemical Society in Dallas and in a paper in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
‘Investigation of electronic devices based on transient materials (transient electronics) is a new and rarely addressed technology with paramount potentials in both medical and military applications,’ the researchers wrote in the paper.
One of the first tests was to create a blue light-emitting diode mounted on a clear polymer composite base with the electrical leads embedded inside.
Add a drop of water and the base and wiring begin to melt away.
Before long the light goes out and a second drop of water degrades what little is left.
The researchers have also developed and tested transient resistors and capacitors.
They’re also working on transient LED and transistor technology, said Montazami.
‘Just think, he said, if you lose your phone, you could send out a signal that causes the phone to self-destruct.
Or, sensors programmed to degrade over certain times and temperatures could be stored with food.
‘When the sensors degrade and stop sending a signal, that food is no longer fresh.
