Egg-albumen/rGO-based photoelectric synaptic memristors for artificial visual perception

Artificial visual systems require hardware that can directly couple light sensing with information storage and processing. Here, we fabricate an egg-albumen/reduced-graphene-oxide (EA/rGO)-based photoelectric synaptic memristor with reproducible bipolar resistive switching, an ON/OFF current ratio of 2.21 × 10⁵, retention exceeding 10⁴ s, and 100-cycle endurance. Benefiting from the incorporation of rGO, the device exhibits improved switching uniformity and supports eight distinct conductance states for multilevel data storage. Under photoelectric co-stimulation, the memristor emulates key synaptic functions, including paired-pulse facilitation and potentiation/depression behavior, and further implements AND/OR logic operations. In addition, a 5 × 5 device array reproduces an "E" pattern through spatially selective optical-state modulation and cell-by-cell readout, demonstrating array-level optical-pattern sensing and nonvolatile state storage. These results establish the EA/rGO device as a promising biomaterial platform for photoresponsive sensing-memory integration and neuromorphic electronics.