Pattnaik D P, Sharma Y, Savel'ev S, Borisov P, Akhter A, Balanov A, Ferreira P
Physics Department, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK.
Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical, and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK.
Commun Eng. 2024 Nov 9;3(1):163. doi: 10.1038/s44172-024-00315-z.
Diffusive memristors owing to their ability to produce current spiking when a constant or slowly changing voltage is applied are competitive candidates for development of artificial electronic neurons. These artificial neurons can be integrated into various prospective autonomous and robotic systems as sensors, e.g. ones implementing object grasping and classification. We report here Ag nanoparticle-based diffusive memristor prepared on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate substrate in which the electric spiking behaviour was induced by the electric voltage under an additional stimulus of external mechanical impact. By changing the magnitude and frequency of the mechanical impact, we are able to manipulate the spiking response of our artificial neuron. This functionality to control the spiking characteristics paves a pathway for the development of touch-perception sensors that can convert local pressure into electrical spikes for further processing in neural networks. We have proposed a mathematical model which captures the operation principle of the fabricated memristive sensors and qualitatively describes the measured spiking behaviour. Employing such flexible diffusive memristors that can directly translate tactile information into spikes, similar to force and pressure sensors, could offer substantial benefits for various applications in robotics.
扩散型忆阻器由于在施加恒定或缓慢变化的电压时能够产生电流尖峰，是开发人工电子神经元的有竞争力的候选者。这些人工神经元可以作为传感器集成到各种潜在的自主和机器人系统中，例如实现物体抓取和分类的系统。我们在此报告在柔性聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯基板上制备的基于银纳米颗粒的扩散型忆阻器，其中在外部机械冲击的额外刺激下，电压诱导了电尖峰行为。通过改变机械冲击的幅度和频率，我们能够操纵我们人工神经元的尖峰响应。这种控制尖峰特性的功能为开发触觉感知传感器铺平了道路，该传感器可以将局部压力转换为电尖峰，以便在神经网络中进行进一步处理。我们提出了一个数学模型，该模型捕捉了所制造的忆阻传感器的工作原理，并定性地描述了测量到的尖峰行为。采用这种能够直接将触觉信息转换为尖峰的柔性扩散型忆阻器，类似于力和压力传感器，可为机器人技术中的各种应用带来巨大益处。
