Bioinspired Nanofluidic Memristors Based on Polyelectrolyte Conformation for Synaptic Learning and in‐Memory Logic Computing
Bioinspired neuromorphic and in-memory computing requires devices that store and process information through ionic dynamics analogous to biological synapses. Here, we report a polyelectrolyte conformational nanofluidic memristor (PCM) that integrates synaptic plasticity, neuromorphic learning, and stateful ionic logic within a single aqueous platform. The device operates through electric-field-driven, reversible conformational transitions of polyelectrolytes confined inside graphene oxide nanochannels, enabling analog conductance tuning, a sharp, tunable switching threshold, and an ON/OFF ratio exceeding 160. These conformational dynamics endow the PCM with rich synaptic functions, including long-term potentiation and depression, multilevel memory retention, and symmetric weight update rules. By directly mapping the experimentally measured potentiation/depression curves into a physical learning model, we demonstrate high-accuracy neuromorphic learning, achieving 97.1% recognition accuracy on the Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology (MNIST) handwritten-digit dataset. Beyond learning, interconnected PCM units perform stateful ionic OR, IMP, and NAND operations, establishing universal in-memory logic within the same ionic platform. This work introduces a bioinspired nanofluidic computing paradigm that unites the adaptive learning of neural networks and deterministic logic, paving the way to scalable and brain-like ionic processors.
Authors
- Lanqun Mao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8286-9321)
- J Q Li
- Lin Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0461-2031)
- Y Zhang
- 宋伯仲
- Hong Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1640-9620)
- Yanbo Liang
- Weijia Cui
- Jing Chen
- Chao Wang
- Xiaoshuang Chen
Institutions
- University of Waterloo (CA)
- Shandong University (CN)
- Beijing Normal University (CN)
- University of Jinan (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Materials
- Published
- 2026-06-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.73598
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Memory and Neural Computing
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China