Energy-Efficient “Memsensors” Inspired by Biology Could Transform Sensing in Harsh Environments

Memsensor in Salty Environments

Can a single device detect, remember, and respond to chemical changes in a harsh environment — without needing power or a CPU? Researchers at UC Berkeley have just brought us one step closer to that vision. In a new study published August 1, 2025 in Nature Materials, Professor Junqiao Wu and his team unveiled an energy-efficient memory sensor — or “memsensor” — capable of functioning like a biological neuron in wet, salty environments.

This revolutionary sensor integrates memory and sensing functions in a single passive device, modeled after the adaptive behaviors of living organisms. The breakthrough centers on vanadium dioxide (VO2), a phase-changing compound that shifts between insulating and metallic states — and crucially, can “remember” past exposure to ions in its environment. Such biomimetic devices open a whole new frontier for underwater robotics, environmental monitoring, and neuromorphic computing.

VO2: A Smart Material with Neural-Like Behavior

Vanadium dioxide has long intrigued materials scientists for its ability to undergo reversible phase transitions near room temperature. Under specific stimuli, VO2 can change its electrical resistance dramatically — making it ideal for smart windows, thermal sensors, and now, brain-like computing elements.

Wu's team engineered a thin layer of VO2 attached to a soft strip of indium metal. When immersed in salty water, indium releases ions at the interface with VO2. The ions, drawn to the oxide surface by built-in electric fields, trigger a localized and persistent shift in VO2’s conductivity — effectively “recording” the salt concentration the sensor was exposed to.

Unlike conventional sensors, this memsensor does not require external voltages or complex electronics to operate or retain information. It mimics how biological neurons, such as those in the nematode C. elegans, respond and adapt to chemical stimuli using ion channels.

From Worms to Robots: Biomimicry in Action

The inspiration for this device came from C. elegans, a tiny roundworm with neurons that allow it to remember salt levels in the environment and navigate accordingly. Wu’s team used the memsensor to direct a miniature robotic boat through a salt gradient. Just like the worm, the boat avoided previously identified high-salt zones and steered toward preferred conditions — all based on the memsensor’s “memory” of prior exposures.

This elegant demonstration of chemical memory-guided navigation illustrates how such sensors could be deployed in real-world applications, such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) that explore oceans or hazardous sites without needing human supervision or active computational control.

Why This Matters: Toward Neuromorphic Sensing in Liquid Systems

Biological systems, from our brains to bacteria, operate in wet, ionic environments — a setting that’s challenging for traditional electronics. The memsensor’s ability to operate passively in aqueous environments while retaining stateful memory points toward a future of neuromorphic sensors and computing systems that work seamlessly in liquid media.

The implications stretch across disciplines: chemical detection, real-time monitoring, environmental remediation, and even synthetic biology. With the right materials and form factors, such devices could one day “think” chemically — detecting, learning, and responding like living cells.

Next Steps: Engineering for the Real World

While the current prototype is laboratory-scale, the technology opens doors for scalable fabrication. By integrating VO2 with different substrates and pairing it with soft robotics or bio-inspired actuators, engineers could soon develop intelligent aquatic devices capable of performing complex sensing tasks without any traditional computing backend.

According to the study’s authors, further work will explore tuning VO2’s properties and expanding this sensing paradigm to other ions and chemical gradients — perhaps even enabling underwater “smell” or “taste” sensors for environmental science or defense.

A Wet, Salty Future for Smart Electronics

Professor Wu sums it up best: “This work points toward a future where devices can sense, store, and process chemical information all within a single platform — just like the brain operates in its own salty environment.” It’s a poetic and powerful vision: machines learning not just from data, but from the very elements that surround them.

To read the original article in full, visit: UC Berkeley Engineering News

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#MaterialsScience #VO2 #Memsensor #NeuromorphicComputing #SaltwaterSensors #FlexibleElectronics #AIinScience #SmartMaterials #BioinspiredEngineering #QuantumServerNetworks

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