The impact of artificial vision is surging all around,
starting
from automotive industries to neuromorphic computing, and it needs
both software and hardware platforms. Despite massive progress through
software-based simulations for artificial vision systems, hardware
implementation still needs to catch up due to the material processing
and device fabrication complexity. Here, we demonstrated a very simple
two-terminal planar photodetector device to mimic functions of photoreceptors
similar to the retina followed by potentiation of optic nerve synapse
using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown two-dimensional rhenium
disulfide (2D ReS2) monolayer film. First, large-area 2D
ReS2 monolayer growth facilitated through organic seeding
promoted the chemical vapor deposition route. The direct band gap
of 1.5 eV and Peierls distorted 1T crystalline phase of ReS2 were identified from the Tauc plot analysis and transmission electron
microscopy results. Then, the photodetection property and photoreceptor
functionality were measured after depositing interdigitated palladium
electrodes. Raman scattering and temporal photoresponse confirm that
the oxide-interface-induced photogating effect plays a significant
role in such functionalities. Photomodulated visual nervous system-related
basic functions, including excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC),
paired-pulse facilitation (PPF), and the simplest Atkinson–Shiffrin
memory model, are verified efficiently even at elevated temperatures.
Overall, this work can lead to an innovative research direction toward
developing atomically thick photonic devices, which would be an innovative
technology for artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML),
and optogenetics in the future.