If you thought storing data inside DNA was cool, here’s something even more fascinating. Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) have invented a way to store digital information inside synthetic polymer molecules. In short, they are transforming tiny bits of plastic into memory banks.

They even used their molecular system to encode a complex 11-character password and then decode it using only electrical signals, without any power, and the expensive and bulky tools typically used for reading molecular data. 

“This is the first attempt to write information in a building block of a plastic that can then be read back using electrical signals, which takes us a step closer to storing information in an everyday material,” Praveen Pasupathy, one of the study authors and an engineer at UT Austin, said. 

Pasupathy and his team’s latest study suggests that their approach is easier to implement, more practical, and less resource-intensive than DNA-based storage methods. 

Turning plastic molecules into data vaults 

The inspiration behind this breakthrough came from biology. It is already known that DNA, which is nature’s own data storage system, can hold vast amounts of information in a microscopic space and remain stable for hundreds of years. 

However, it is not yet ready to replace traditional hard drives and other storage devices because reading and writing data on DNA requires highly specialized and costly equipment. To solve this problem, the study authors decided to ditch DNA and start from scratch. 

They designed four custom-made chemical building blocks called monomers, each chosen for its unique electrochemical behavior, which means that they respond to different voltages when broken down. These monomers served as the letters of a new synthetic alphabet. 

By combining them in various ways, the researchers created 256 distinct characters, enough to represent almost anything that could be typed on a keyboard. The team then used this chemical alphabet to build a synthetic polymer, a chain of monomers that encoded and decoded a real password (Dh&@dR%P0W¢). 

The interesting part came during the reading process. Instead of using lasers or complex machines, the scientists used electricity. As the polymer chain broke down one monomer at a time, each piece released a small, distinct electrical signal. By tracking these signals as the molecule disintegrated, they could figure out the identity and order of the monomers, essentially reading the password back from the molecule.

“The voltage gives you one piece of information —the identity of the monomer currently being degraded—and so we scan through different voltages and watch this movie of the molecule being broken down, which tells us which monomer is being degraded at which point in time. Once we pinpoint which monomers are where, we can piece that together to get the identities of the characters in our encoded alphabet,” Pasupathy explained.

The world needs a sustainable data storage solution

The timing for this research couldn’t be better, as the world is drowning in data but running out of space to keep it. In 2024, global data creation surpassed 140 zettabytes (one ZB is equal to 10¹² GB), and this year it is expected to cross 180 ZB, a staggering 28 percent increase in just one year. 

Moreover, with the explosive growth of artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), and streaming platforms, the pace of data generation shows no signs of slowing, and it’s only going to accelerate. However, the capacity to store this massive volume is not keeping pace. 

Traditional storage systems like hard drives and solid-state drives are hitting their limits, and they can’t store data for a longer period (decades-long timeframe). While these devices themselves are relatively affordable and energy-efficient on their own, scaling them up in data centers is a different story. Large data centers require massive infrastructure, constant cooling, and uninterrupted power. For instance, in 2023, data centers alone consumed nearly five percent of the total electricity produced in the US. Moreover, they are super-expensive to build and maintain.

On the other hand, just like DNA, a synthetic molecular storage system like the one proposed by the researchers can store vast amounts of data in a tiny space for the long term. Plus, they don’t need a continuous power supply, making them highly sustainable.

“Molecules can store information for very long periods without needing power. Nature has given us the proof of principle that this works,” Pasupathy said.

However, that doesn’t mean the polymer molecules are ready for large-scale data storage. They have several limitations. For instance, reading the data destroys the molecule, making it suitable only for one-time uses like security keys or data verification. 

Also, it’s not very fast yet, decoding the 11-character password took over two hours so it has a long way to go. The good news is, researchers are already working on improvements. Their next goal is to speed up the reading process and develop chips that can directly read these molecules.

The study is published in the journal Chem.