Solution-Processed Photosynapses Based on Graphene and Organic Dyes for Neuromorphic Computing

Combining optical detection and neuromorphic computing to create a bionic optoelectronic nervous system offers great prospects towards mimicking one of the essential components of the human perception, the visual system. We demonstrate a novel and simple implementation of a photosynapse, the fundamental unit of the bionic optical nerve, using graphene and organic conjugated dyes as the materials basis. Through a facile and flexible fabrication process, large-scale devices were created that successfully mimic synaptic behaviors including short- and long-term memory, spiking rate-dependent plasticity, spiking number-dependent plasticity and paired-pulse facilitation. Our work presents a path toward large-scale fabrication of artificial photosynapses of varying length scales employing photoactive materials using a simple, low-cost process, easing the potential development of applications covering artificial visual perception and neuromorphic intelligent systems.