Memristor device based on bioengineered elastin-like polypeptide and its bionanohybrid

In this study, bioengineered and biosynthesized elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) was adopted for a non-volatile memory resistive switching device or a memristor. The ELP mimicked from elastin of mammal was synthetically produced in polypeptide by Escherichia coli gene recombination. They were composed of a repeating pentapeptide sequence having [Val-Pro-Gly-Val-Gly]₃₂ sequence for bioelectronic devices with ELP showing multiple electrical resistance states between a high resistance state and a low resistance state through an applied electrical field. In addition, the ELP-coated 5-nm gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) layer was also to be biomaterials used for nanobiohybrid memristive devices. Simple metal–insulator–metal device structure and lateral electrode device with ELP layer on 5-nm Au NPs could show neuromorphic adaptive current–voltage (I–V) behavior and electrical stimulus-induced potentiation and depression in a hydrogel state. In addition, with an introduction of a neurotransmitter cortisol’s specific antibody, a preliminary sensing protocol was also examined with the nanobiohybrid device. Therefore, the introduction of ELP into neuromorphic device is regarded as the cornerstone for the development of biocompatible bioelectronic devices that can be integrated into human bionics for future artificial neuromorphic format.