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Tokyo University of Science Unveils Self-Powered Synapse That Mimics Human Color Vision

Generating electricity via integrated dye-sensitized solar cells, the device distinguishes colors within 10 nanometers to boost efficiency in edge-computing vision systems.

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Overview

  • The research, published May 12 in Scientific Reports, introduces an optoelectronic synapse that self-powers through solar energy conversion.
  • Dual dye-sensitized solar cells produce bipolar voltage responses—positive for blue light and negative for red—to emulate human wavelength discrimination.
  • With color resolution of 10 nanometers across the visible spectrum, the synapse performs complex logic operations without multiple conventional components.
  • Integrated into a physical reservoir computing framework, the device classified 18 human movements with 82% accuracy using a single synapse.
  • Potential applications span autonomous vehicles, wearable healthcare sensors and consumer electronics by enabling low-power, high-precision machine vision.