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Electrochemically Exfoliated Amorphous TaIrTe4 Nanosheets for Bidirectional Optical Neuromorphic Devices
Yanqiu Xue1,2, Yun Li3, Jia Xu2,4
1College of Energy Science and Engineering, Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei, China.
Small (Weinheim an Der Bergstrasse, Germany)
|May 8, 2026
Summary
Researchers developed a scalable method to create amorphous van der Waals (vdW) nanosheets from single-crystal TaIrTe4. These materials enable light-programmable synaptic plasticity for energy-efficient neuromorphic computing.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Amorphous van der Waals (vdW) materials offer tunable optoelectronic properties beyond crystalline limits.
- Atomically thin amorphous vdW nanosheets with reproducible device properties are underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a scalable method for producing high-quality amorphous vdW nanosheets.
- To investigate the optoelectronic properties and device applications of these novel materials.
Main Methods:
- Electrochemical exfoliation of single-crystal TaIrTe4 to produce amorphous nanosheets.
- Density functional theory (DFT) calculations to understand structural and electronic changes.
- Fabrication and characterization of field-effect transistors (FETs).
- Investigation of photoinduced carrier dynamics and synaptic plasticity.
Main Results:
- Produced stable amorphous TaIrTe4 nanosheets (up to 50 µm, 2 nm thick).
- Observed a metallic-to-semiconducting transition with bandgap opening and trap state formation.
- Demonstrated FETs with ambipolar transport (on/off > 10^3, mobility ~1.5 cm^2 V^-1 s^-1).
- Achieved self-powered, persistent photocurrents and optical, bidirectional synaptic plasticity (< 5.65 pJ/pulse).
- Simulated neuromorphic networks reached 92.1% accuracy on MNIST dataset.
Conclusions:
- Established a scalable platform for amorphous vdW nanosheet production.
- Demonstrated crystalline-to-amorphous conversion as a route to advanced optoelectronic devices.
- Highlighted potential for light-programmable signal processing and energy-efficient intelligent hardware.
