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Updated: Oct 2, 2025

Real-time Electrophysiology: Using Closed-loop Protocols to Probe Neuronal Dynamics and Beyond
Published on: June 24, 2015
Organic electrochemical neurons and synapses with ion mediated spiking
Padinhare Cholakkal Harikesh1, Chi-Yuan Yang1, Deyu Tu1
1Laboratory of Organic Electronics, Department of Science and Technology, Linköping University, SE-601 74, Norrköping, Sweden.
Abstract:
Future brain-machine interfaces, prosthetics, and intelligent soft robotics will require integrating artificial neuromorphic devices with biological systems. Due to their poor biocompatibility, circuit complexity, low energy efficiency, and operating principles fundamentally different from the ion signal modulation of biology, traditional Silicon-based neuromorphic implementations have limited bio-integration potential. Here, we report the first organic electrochemical neurons (OECNs) with ion-modulated spiking, based on all-printed complementary organic electrochemical transistors. We demonstrate facile bio-integration of OECNs with Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) to induce lobe closure upon input stimuli. The OECNs can also be integrated with all-printed organic electrochemical synapses (OECSs), exhibiting short-term plasticity with paired-pulse facilitation and long-term plasticity with retention >1000 s, facilitating Hebbian learning. These soft and flexible OECNs operate below 0.6 V and respond to multiple stimuli, defining a new vista for localized artificial neuronal systems possible to integrate with bio-signaling systems of plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates.
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