Northwestern University researchers printed flexible electronic "neurons" that produced complex, biologically realistic electrical signals and, when connected to mouse cerebellum slices, triggered activity in living neurons, the team reported in Nature Nanotechnology.
The devices were made by aerosol jet printing conductive graphene and semiconducting molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) inks onto polymer substrates. The paper, titled "Multi-order complexity spiking neurons enabled by printed MoS2 memristive nanosheet networks," shows the printed elements generate a range of spiking behaviours — single spikes, continuous firing and bursting — rather than simple one-off pulses.
Rather than removing the polymer stabilizer after printing, the researchers used a localized region of the material to create a sudden, neuron-like electrical response. That memristive nanosheet network produced voltage spikes whose timing and duration matched key features of biological spikes, and those spikes reliably evoked responses in neurons within mouse cerebellum slices.
The team presents the work as a step toward electronics that can directly communicate with nervous tissue and toward more energy-efficient, brain-inspired computing. The paper notes the human brain operates roughly five orders of magnitude more efficiently than conventional digital computers, and argues that richer single-device signalling could reduce component counts in neuromorphic systems.
Results are limited to ex vivo brain slices and printed devices tested in vitro. The authors position the advance as groundwork for future brain–machine interfaces and neuroprosthetics, but the study does not report in vivo implants, functional prosthetic tests, or performance metrics in operational computing systems.
The research identifies a materials-and-printing route for making soft, low-cost spiking elements that more closely mimic neural signalling than many prior artificial neurons. The paper is available in Nature Nanotechnology under the given title.
Photo credit: www.digitaljournal.com
Tags: printed neurons, MoS2, aerosol jet printing, neuromorphic hardware, brain–machine interface
Topics: Neuroprosthetics & neural implants, Brain–computer interfaces, Neuroscience & neuroplasticity