Uncooled broadband from ultraviolet-to-long-wave-infrared neuromorphic vision enabled by graphene-coating-enhanced pyroelectric synapses

Abstract Long-wave infrared (LWIR) perception is essential for night vision, autonomous navigation and thermal cognition, yet existing infrared systems rely on cooled detectors and separate sensing, memory and processing units. Neuromorphic approaches offer a pathway toward efficient infrared perception, but intrinsic memory-enabled LWIR sensing at room temperature remains elusive. Here we report an uncooled optoelectronic synaptic device based on graphene-enhanced pyroelectric $${{\\rm{Pb}}}[{({{{\\rm{Mg}}}}_{1/3}{{{\\rm{Nb}}}}_{2/3})}_{0.7}{{{\\rm{Ti}}}}_{0.3}]{{{\\rm{O}}}}_{3}$$ Pb [ ( Mg 1 / 3 Nb 2 / 3 ) 0.7 Ti 0.3 ] O 3 (PMNPT) that integrates LWIR detection, memory and preprocessing within a single device. A monolayer graphene coating acts as a broadband charge reservoir that couples with the spontaneous polarization of PMNPT, markedly enhancing the pyroelectric response and enabling synaptic behavior under long-wave infrared illumination. The device exhibits stable and repeatable excitatory postsynaptic currents and tunable short- and long-term plasticity at room temperature for wavelengths extending to 11.6 μm, without external cooling. Beyond infrared operation, the same device supports ultraviolet-to-infrared multispectral sensing, learning–forgetting–relearning behavior, adaptive gain control and associative learning through combined optical and electrical modulation. Leveraging these properties, we demonstrate a neuromorphic vision system capable of all-weather perception and memory-assisted multispectral imaging. This work establishes a hardware platform for uncooled ultraviolet-to-LWIR neuromorphic vision, offering a scalable route toward energy-efficient thermal perception systems.