Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul, 01811, Republic of Korea.
Biomaterials. 2025 Mar;314:122861. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2024.122861. Epub 2024 Oct 3.
Neuromorphic electronics use neural models in hardware to emulate brain-like behavior, and provide power-efficient, extremely compact, and massively-parallel processing, so they are ideal candidates for next-generation information-processing units. However, traditional rigid neuromorphic devices are limited by their unavoidable mechanical and geometrical mismatch with human tissues or organs. At the same time, the rapid development of these electronic devices has generated a large amount of electronic waste, thereby causing severe ecological problems. Natural biomaterials have mechanical properties compatible with biological tissues, and are environmentally benign, ultra-thin, and lightweight, so use of these materials can address these limitations and be used to create next-generation sustainable flexible neuromorphic electronics. Here, we explore the advantages of natural biomaterials in simulating synaptic behavior of sustainable neuromorphic devices. We present the flexibility, biocompatibility, and biodegradability of these neuromorphic devices, and consider the potential applicability of these properties in wearable and implantable bioelectronics. Finally, we consider the challenges of device fabrication and neuromorphic system integration by natural biomaterials, then suggest future research directions.
神经形态电子学在硬件中使用神经模型来模拟类似大脑的行为，并提供高效能、超紧凑和大规模并行处理，因此非常适合作为下一代信息处理单元。然而，传统的刚性神经形态设备受到其与人体组织或器官不可避免的机械和几何不匹配的限制。同时，这些电子设备的快速发展产生了大量的电子垃圾，从而造成严重的生态问题。天然生物材料具有与生物组织相兼容的机械性能，并且对环境无害、超薄且轻巧，因此使用这些材料可以解决这些限制，并用于创建下一代可持续的柔性神经形态电子产品。在这里，我们探讨了天然生物材料在模拟可持续神经形态器件的突触行为方面的优势。我们展示了这些神经形态器件的灵活性、生物相容性和可生物降解性，并考虑了这些特性在可穿戴和可植入生物电子学中的潜在适用性。最后，我们考虑了由天然生物材料制造神经形态器件和整合神经形态系统所面临的挑战，并提出了未来的研究方向。
