A Flexible Organic Electrochemical Synaptic Transistor With Dopamine-Mediated Plasticity

Abstract

Artificial synapses relying on electrical and optical stimuli to implement neuromorphic tasks have been intensively developed, but very few of them can directly respond to real biological neurotransmitter stimulus, thus limiting the seamless integration of bio-electronic interfaces. In this letter, we report a flexible organic electrochemical transistor-based synaptic device, which demonstrates not only short-term synaptic behaviors dominated by the kinetics of ions but also long-term synaptic behaviors derived from the redox reaction of dopamine neurotransmitters. More importantly, we systematically studied the dopamine-mediated synaptic plasticity under both flat and bending states, which shows reliable synaptic response and excellent mechanical flexibility. These results reveal that our device providing a promising way for direct biohybrid integration with soft biological tissues.