Artificial Optoelectronic Synapse Based on Violet Phosphorus Microfiber Arrays

Memristor-based artificial synapses are regarded as the most promising candidate to develop brain-like neuromorphic network computers and overcome the bottleneck of Von-Neumann architecture. Violet phosphorus (VP) as a new allotrope of available phosphorus with outstanding electro-optical properties and stability has attracted more and more attention in the past several years. In this study, large-scale, high-yield VP microfiber vertical arrays have been successfully developed on a Sn-coated graphite paper and are used as the memristor functional layers to build reliable, low-power artificial synaptic devices. The VP devices can well mimic the major synaptic functions such as short-term memory (STM), long-term memory (LTM), paired-pulse facilitation (PPF), spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP), and spike rate-dependent plasticity (SRDP) under both electrical and light stimulation conditions, even the dendritic synapse functions and simple logical operations. By virtue of the excellent performance, the VP artificial synapse devices can be conductive to building high-performance optic-neural synaptic devices simulating the human-like optic nerve system. On this basis, Pavlov's associative memory can be successfully implemented optically. This study provides a promising approach for the design and manufacture of VP-based artificial synaptic devices and outlines a direction with multifunctional neural devices.