Exploring photosensitive nanomaterials and optoelectronic synapses for neuromorphic artificial vision

Artificial vision systems will be essential in intelligent machine-vision applications such as autonomous vehicles, bionic eyes, and humanoid robot eyes. However, conventional digital electronics in these systems face limitations in system complexity, processing speed, and energy consumption. These challenges have been addressed by biomimetic approaches utilizing optoelectronic synapses inspired by the biological synapses in the eye. Nanomaterials can confine photogenerated charge carriers within nano-sized regions, and thus offer significant potential for optoelectronic synapses to perform in-sensor image-processing tasks, such as classifying static multicolor images and detecting dynamic object movements. We introduce recent developments in optoelectronic synapses, focusing on use of photosensitive nanomaterials. We also explore applications of these synapses in recognizing static and dynamic optical information. Finally, we suggest future directions for research on optoelectronic synapses to implement neuromorphic artificial vision.