Photonically Enabled Chiral Bio-Organic Composites for Synaptic Transistors

Chiral bio-enabled hybrid nanomaterials represent a novel category of functional materials sourced from biological origins, inspired by natural processes to create next-generation applications in optoelectronic processing. A fundamental element in replicating the nervous system's functionality is achieving a proper balance between excitation and inhibition within synaptic responses, which is crucial for ensuring versatility, flexibility, and effective parallel signal processing.
Although considerable research has been dedicated to understanding how the nervous system maintains this delicate equilibrium, accurately modeling the complex interactions between excitatory and inhibitory synapses remains a formidable challenge. To tackle this issue, we introduce an innovative optoelectronic synapse that effectively maintains this balance while enabling the recognition of color and light polarization. This is accomplished by integrating humidity-sensitive helical structures of chiral nematic cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) composites. They adjust the polarization of the hierarchical structures in response to different levels of absorbed moisture, leading to various hysteresis effects that produce unique excitatory and inhibitory nonvolatile behaviors in bio-electrolyte-gated transistors.
By applying voltage pulses and stimulating the system with chiral light, this artificial optoelectronic synapse not only regulates synaptic functions but also improves learning behaviors and the capacity to identify color signals. The combination of CNC bio-nanotechnology with functional optoelectronic systems highlights the potential of these versatile synaptic transistors for use in efficient parallel neuromorphic computing and advanced robotic vision technologies.