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Updated: Sep 14, 2025

Assembly and Characterization of Biomolecular Memristors Consisting of Ion Channel-doped Lipid Membranes
Published on: March 9, 2019
Voltage-Gated Nanofluidic Synapse with Cation-π Interactions Enabled Ultra-Long-Term Memory
Xin Peng1, Guoyuan Zhang1, Hao Tian2
1Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, and Center for Complex Flows and Soft Matter Research, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shen zhen 518055, China.
Abstract:
Voltage- and ligand-gated ion channels are crucial for neural information transmission and processing, inspiring ionic emulation via ion dynamics. Here, we report a voltage-gated nanofluidic synapse based on atomic-scale graphene channels that exhibit both short- and long-term plasticity. Short-term plasticity originates from transient ionic adsorption at the channel entrance. Long-term plasticity for potentiation and depression shows exceptional durability, with ∼50% synaptic enhancement and ∼40% suppression persisting beyond 5 h without noticeable decay, respectively, indicating ultra-long-term memory. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) reveals that the nonvolatile ionic memory is attributed to the persistent retention of deeply inserted potassium ions within graphene channels due to cation-π interactions. The device also demonstrates other essential synaptic functions, including paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) and depression (PPD) as well as spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP). Logic operations (AND/OR gates) are implemented by using multiple devices. The development of multifunctional graphene nanofluidic synapses benefits ionic neuromorphic computing.
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