Disorder-mediated non-equilibrium photocurrent redistribution enables homeostatic synaptic conditioning in AgBiS2 heterostructure

Disorder-induced energetic landscape in semiconductors is typically regarded as a parasitic source of non-radiative energetic losses, yet emerging theory suggests that controlled cationic disorder in multicomponent chalcogenides can define reproducible routes for achieving exceptional optical and electrical properties. Here, we establish cationic disorder-engineered AgBiS2 heterostructures as optically addressable synaptic elements, in which precisely reconfigurable trap-state population serves as a scalable analogue memory variable. By coupling AgBiS2 with an optically complementary narrow-bandgap fused-ring organic semiconductor (Y6), nonequilibrium photocarrier redistribution across disorder-induced states becomes selectively driven by excitation wavelength, enabling bidirectional and homeostatic plasticity in a single device. Near-infrared excitation populates disorder-mediated states to yield >10-fold conductance enhancement with large analogue hysteresis characteristic of accelerated long-term potentiation (LTP), while short-wavelength excitation depopulates these states to selectively accelerate long-term depression (LTD). Wavelength-dependent trap occupation dynamics, resolved through ultrafast transient spectroscopy, validate this disorder-mediated memory volatility mechanism. Neuromorphic simulations show that such spectrally segmented LTP/LTD enables color-conditioned learning with intrinsic negative-feedback stabilization. These results redefine ionic disorder from an unavoidable defect to a functional design parameter for excitability control, offering a materials platform for spectrally programmable neuromorphic hardware. Disorder-induced energetic landscape in semiconductors is typically a parasitic source of non-radiative energetic losses. Here, the authors engineer disorder in heterostructures for wavelength-selective, bidirectional synaptic control of memory states, achieving homeostatic learning for neuromorphic computing.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2026-05-18
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-73235-5
Primary Topic
Advanced Memory and Neural Computing
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Disorder-mediated non-equilibrium photocurrent redistribution enables homeostatic synaptic conditioning in AgBiS2 heterostructure

Minkyun Son, Hyun Min Kwon, Sung Yeol Lim, Jin Hyeon Kim et al.
Nature Communications
Advanced Memory and Neural Computing
article

Disorder-mediated non-equilibrium photocurrent redistribution enables homeostatic synaptic conditioning in AgBiS2 heterostructure

Minkyun Son, Hyun Min Kwon, Sung Yeol Lim, Jin Hyeon Kim, Sae Byeok Jo, Sunil V. Barma, Min Sung Kim, Chan Kim, Wooseok Yang, Hanbyeol Oh, Jeong Ho Cho, Hyun Woo Kim, Hui Chan Ahn, Neul Ha
article en

Abstract

Disorder-induced energetic landscape in semiconductors is typically regarded as a parasitic source of non-radiative energetic losses, yet emerging theory suggests that controlled cationic disorder in multicomponent chalcogenides can define reproducible routes for achieving exceptional optical and electrical properties. Here, we establish cationic disorder-engineered AgBiS2 heterostructures as optically addressable synaptic elements, in which precisely reconfigurable trap-state population serves as a scalable analogue memory variable. By coupling AgBiS2 with an optically complementary narrow-bandgap fused-ring organic semiconductor (Y6), nonequilibrium photocarrier redistribution across disorder-induced states becomes selectively driven by excitation wavelength, enabling bidirectional and homeostatic plasticity in a single device. Near-infrared excitation populates disorder-mediated states to yield >10-fold conductance enhancement with large analogue hysteresis characteristic of accelerated long-term potentiation (LTP), while short-wavelength excitation depopulates these states to selectively accelerate long-term depression (LTD). Wavelength-dependent trap occupation dynamics, resolved through ultrafast transient spectroscopy, validate this disorder-mediated memory volatility mechanism. Neuromorphic simulations show that such spectrally segmented LTP/LTD enables color-conditioned learning with intrinsic negative-feedback stabilization. These results redefine ionic disorder from an unavoidable defect to a functional design parameter for excitability control, offering a materials platform for spectrally programmable neuromorphic hardware. Disorder-induced energetic landscape in semiconductors is typically a parasitic source of non-radiative energetic losses. Here, the authors engineer disorder in heterostructures for wavelength-selective, bidirectional synaptic control of memory states, achieving homeostatic learning for neuromorphic computing.

Nature Communications
Yonsei University (KR), Sungkyunkwan University (KR)
National Research Foundation of Korea
Openalex Percentile: Top 9%
Advanced Memory and Neural Computing
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