Bioinspired nanofluidic iontronic device with integrated photoreceptor and photosynaptic functions

Biological vision acquires external information through light-induced transmembrane ion transport, generating electrical impulses. Emulating the dual visual functions of photoreceptors and photosynapses through light-modulated ion transport presents a significant challenge. Herein, we present a bioinspired light-regulated nanofluidic iontronic device that can mimic biological visual functionalities, realized through an engineered carbon nanotube and molybdenum disulfide (CNT/MoS2) heterostructure. This bioinspired device combines two key functionalities of photoreceptor-like optical sensing and photosynaptic signal processing with dynamically adjustable polarity-switching behavior, achieved via bias voltage–modulated transient photoresponse speeds. Both theoretical and experimental results prove that light-modulated ion transport originates from the heterointerface-induced asymmetric photovoltage generation across CNT/MoS2 nanotube. Furthermore, we demonstrate its implementation for both accurate orientation recognition and reliable fingerprint detection under varying incident light angles. The device’s bidirectional photoresponsiveness highlights its unique advantages for adaptive visual simulation systems. Emulating biological vision with dual functions of photoreceptors and photosynapses through light-modulated ion transport presents a significant challenge. Here, the authors present a light-regulated nanofluidic iontronic device that can mimic the dual visual functionalities with adjustable polarity-switching behaviour.