Researchers at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST) in India have shown that cholesterol, the fat like substance, can be used to control the spin of electrons.
The team has found that cholesterol can serve as a platform for constructing supramolecular based spintronic materials as it enables precise control over molecular properties due to its intrinsic handedness (chirality) and flexibility.
The scientists introduced cholesterol-based nanomaterials as novel platforms for future quantum technologies and spintronic applications. By combining cholesterol with different metal ions, the researchers created nanomaterials that selectively filter electron spins. Interestingly, both spin directions could be controlled within a single system. This means that with a simple chemical tweak or an achiral chemical stimulus the scientists could tune the flow of spin information.
This chemical tunability provides an elegant technique for manipulating spin information with high precision, representing an advancement in the development of biomaterials for advanced quantum and spin technologies.
This could lead to Energy-efficient memory chips for greener technology and bioelectronic devices, since the spin-based materials can help separate molecules with extreme precision.