Oscillatory Chemical Networks in Silicon Nanofluidic Chips for Ultra-Low-Power Computing

We integrate fluidic networks filled with the oscillatory Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction in silicon microchips to investigate the potential of these networks for on-chip chemical computation. Using nanofluidic confinement and networks of thousands of microreactors (5–30 µm) connected by nanochannels, we demonstrate stable oscillations down to 300 nm vertical confinement with an estimated lower-bound chemical energy cost of ≈20 fJ per cycle when rescaled to the minimum operational volume, well below that of CMOS and VO 2 oscillators. Reaction–diffusion waves propagate signals with diffusion lengths of ≈30–50 µm and speeds up to 123 µm/s, while light-sensitive modulation enables dynamic control for programmable architectures. These features support large fan-out, weighted connections, and reconfigurable pathways, laying the foundation for chemical logic, neuromorphic networks, and adaptive systems. Our results position oscillatory chemistry as a promising route toward ultra-low-power computing and bio-inspired architectures.