Freestanding Polymer Nanofilms Based Flexible Synaptic Transistors for Neurological Functions

Abstract The development of artificial synaptic devices, characterized by their soft and resilient nature, presents a promising avenue for mimicking the synaptic functions of neuromorphic systems. This study presents the creation of flexible synaptic transistors that use self‐assembled poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanofilms as the active layer. The resulting flexible synaptic transistors demonstrate essential synaptic functionalities such as excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC), paired‐pulse facilitation (PPF), short‐term memory (STM), and long‐term memory (LTM), which are crucial for effective neural processing. A flexible 5 × 5 synaptic transistor array is successfully developed to demonstrate image recognition and memory capabilities. Furthermore, the versatility of these devices is demonstrated by utilizing the EPSCs triggered by presynaptic pulses of different amplitudes to symbolize various characters in Morse code, highlighting their promising applications in communication technologies.