A proposed material could immediately melt away when triggered to do so.
Researchers could create a medical device that melts away inside of a person's body after it has completed its task. The material could also be used to create a military device that would disappear after sending valuable information, an Iowa State University news release reported.
"You don't expect your cell phone to dissolve someday, right?" Reza Montazami, an Iowa State University assistant professor of mechanical engineering, said in the news release. "The resistors, capacitors and electronics, you don't expect everything to dissolve in such a manner that there's no trace of it."
The researchers called the material "transient materials" or "transient electronics." It would employ trigger activated polymers.
The researchers have already created a degradable antenna that can transmit data.
"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, the news release reported.
In order to demonstrate the material's capabilities the researchers played a video of a "blue light-emitting diode mounted on a clear polymer composite base with the electrical leads embedded inside," the news release reported.
A drop of water was added to the base and the wiring immediately started to melt away. The light went out and a second drop of water degraded the rest of the device.
The researchers are now working on transient LED and transistor technology. Montazami hopes that the technology will be ready for commercial use in the relatively near future.
"Just think, he said, if you lose your credit card, you could send out a signal that causes the card 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. Or, when soldiers are wounded, their electronic devices could be remotely triggered to melt away, securing sensitive military information," the news release reported.
