All-printed ultra-flexible organic nanowire artificial synapses

Abstract

All-printed artificial synapses (ASs) with organic nanowires as the active channel were fabricated for the first time. The ASs were composed of long continuous semiconducting nanowire channels that had been deposited using electro-hydrodynamic nanowire printing, combined with nanostructured Ag electrodes that had been deposited using and ink-jet printing. The electronic device emulated key synaptic functions, with a paired pulse facilitation (PPF) index up to 187%, which is the highest for printed synaptic transistors on flexible substrates. Moreover, benefiting from the ultra-flexible organic nanowire conductive channel, the device sustained extremely small bending radius down to 5 mm, which is the smallest for synaptic transistors with printed components. Such all-printed synaptic transistors pave the way to efficient, large-scale preparation of flexible neuromorphic electronics.