Organic mixed conductors for bioinspired electronics

Owing to its close resemblance to biological systems and materials, soft matter has been successfully implemented in numerous bioelectronic and biosensing applications, as well as in bioinspired computing and neuromorphic electronics. Particularly, organic mixed ionic–electronic conductors possess favourable characteristics for their efficient use in organic electrochemical transistors, electrochemical memory and artificial synapses and neurons. Owing to their mixed ionic–electronic conduction, leading to high amplification, these materials are ideal for translating chemical signals, such as ions or neurotransmitters, into electrical signals, as well as for accurately controlling stable conductance states to efficiently emulate synaptic weights in artificial neural networks. Because these mixed conductors operate with ionic charges — similar to signalling in biological neuronal networks — they also exhibit ideal properties to emulate biological spiking neurons. In this Perspective, we consider the potential of soft matter, especially based on organic mixed conductors, for bioinspired systems and their possible applications. We discuss the potential that these materials have in applications in which low power, conformability and tunability are key, such as smart and adaptive biosensors, low-power in-sensor and edge computing, intelligent agents and robotics, and event-driven systems and biohybrid spiking circuits at the interface with biology. We present a comprehensive perspective of the potential of biomimetic and bioinspired electronics based on soft matter to integrate artificial intelligence into everyday life.