As artificial synapses in biomimetics, memristors have received increasing attention because of their great potential in brain-inspired neuromorphic computing. The use of biocompatible and degradable materials as the active resistive layer is promising in memristor fabrication. In this work, we select egg albumen as the resistive layer to fabricate flexible tungsten/egg albumen/indium tin oxide/polyethylene terephthalate devices, which can operate normally under mechanical bending without significant performance degradation. This proposed memristor device exhibits a transparency of more than 90% under visible light with a wavelength range of 230-850 nm. Moreover, by changing amplitudes of pulse voltage instead of intervals, paired-pulse facilitation can be transmitted to paired-pulse depression, which can faithfully mimic dynamical balance of Ca2+ concentration shaped by voltage-sensitive calcium channels. The device resistance can be modulated gradually by applied pulse trains to mimic certain neural bionic behaviors, including excitatory postsynaptic current, short-term plasticity (STP) and long-term plasticity (LTP), and transitions between STP and LTP. The reasons behind these behaviors are analyzed through power consumption calculation. Excellent biosimulation characteristics have been demonstrated in this egg albumen-based memristor device, which is desirable in biocompatible and dissolvable electronics for flexible artificial neuromorphic systems.
Keywords: dissolvable; egg albumen; flexible; memristor; synapse.