Right now, our microchips and memory devices are based on the movement of electrons across and near interfaces, usually of silicon, but with limitations of conventional electronics become apparent, researchers are looking at new ways to store or process information. These "heterostructures" can also find applications in advanced batteries and fuel cells. Now physicists at UC Davis have observed what’s going on at some of these interfaces as oxygen ions react with different metals, causing drastic changes in magnetic and electronic properties. Electronic devices operate, as the name implies, on the movement of electrons. But ions – here atoms with extra electrons and negative charges – can also move in and near interfaces and take part in magnetoelectric effects. http://blogs.ucdavis.edu/egghead/20...cs-could-be-a-new-alternative-to-electronics/ Paper: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/160321/ncomms11050/full/ncomms11050.html
