Flexible printed single-walled carbon nanotubes olfactory synaptic transistors with crosslinked poly(4-vinylphenol) as dielectrics

Abstract

Flexible brain-inspired neuromorphic transistors are spring up in the scopes of artificial electronic skins and human-interactive electronics for wearable devices and robotic applications benefiting from the capability of synchronous recognition and processing of the external information. In this work, we reported the flexible printed single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) synaptic thin film transistors (TFTs) with printed silver electrodes as source/drain and gate electrodes, and the solid state electrolyte blending ionic liquids with crosslinked-poly(4-vinylphenol) (c-PVP) as dielectric layers. Our flexible printed SWCNT synaptic transistors display excellent electrical properties, such as low operation voltages (between ±1 V), high on/off ratios (>106) and low off currents (∼10−12 A), as well good stability and good mechanical flexibility. These flexible printed SWCNT TFT devices can imitate some typical synaptic plasticities like excitatory postsynaptic current and paired-pulse facilitation. The results indicate that synaptic behaviors of flexible devices are related to weight concentrations of ionic liquids in ionic c-PVP insulators. Moreover, our synaptic transistors can imitate the olfactory neurons and show the inhibitory characteristic when triggered by under a series of electrical stimulations after exposure to NH3.